Reliance Industries starts production from Satellite Cluster gas field

Reliance Industries and its partner BP have started production from the Satellite Cluster gas field in the Krishna-Godavari Basin’s KG D6 block off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, India.

The Mukesh Ambani-owned group said that the milestone at the Satellite Cluster field has been achieved a couple of months ahead of its schedule despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. It was originally slated to be brought onstream in mid-2021.

Satellite Cluster gas field has five production wells

Producing gas through five wells from four reservoirs, the Satellite Cluster gas field is expected to have production of up to six million standard cubic meters per day (mmscmd) of natural gas.

Located approximately 60km from the existing onshore terminal at Kakinada, the Satellite Cluster is in water depths of up to 1,850m.

It is among the three deepwater gas projects that Reliance Industries and BP have been developing in the KG D6 block apart from the ultra-deep-water R Cluster gas field and the MJ gas field. While the R Cluster gas project began production last December, the MJ gas field is anticipated to be brought onstream in the latter half of next year.

Reliance Industries starts production from Satellite Cluster gas field. Photo courtesy of Stephen Marrable from Pixabay.

Put together, the three offshore Indian gas projects will see an investment of INR350 billion ($4.68 billion). The projects will leverage the hub infrastructure that is already present in the KG D6 block.

According to Reliance Industries, the R Cluster and Satellite Cluster gas projects will make up about 20% of the present gas produced by India.

Overall, the three offshore gas projects of Reliance Industries and BP in the KG D6 block are estimated to produce natural gas of around 30mmscmd by 2023, which will be adequate enough to cover up to 15% of the gas requirements in India.

Reliance Industries is the operator of the KG D6 block with a stake of 66.67%, while BP has a stake of 33.33%.