bp and Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) today announced the sanctioning of the ‘Satellite cluster’ project in Block KG D6. The companies are moving forward to develop the Block’s discovered deep-water gas fields in an integrated series of projects, bringing new gas production for India.
The ‘Satellite cluster’ is the second of three projects in the Block KG D6 integrated development. The first of the projects, development of the ‘R-Series’ deep-water gas fields, was sanctioned in June 2017. Together the three projects will develop a total of about 3 trillion cubic feet of discovered gas resources with a total investment of ~ INR 40,000 crore (US$6 billion). They are expected to bring a total ~ 30-35 million cubic metres (1 billion cubic feet) of gas a day new domestic gas production onstream, phased over 2020-2022.
Mukesh Ambani, Chairman and Managing Director of RIL, said: “In consonance with our announcements last year to raise domestic gas production, we are delighted to announce the on-schedule progress of the Satellite cluster in the east coast of India. This development supports the country’s imminent need of increasing domestic gas supply and is a firm step towards making India a gas-based economy.”
Speaking in London today, Bob Dudley, bp Group Chief Executive, welcomed the investment decision: “This latest investment is a further demonstration of bps commitment to India. Through our partnership, Reliance and bp are able to develop these discovered gas resources efficiently and economically, working closely with the Government of India. These new developments will produce much needed energy for India’s thriving economy.”
The Satellites cluster is a dry gas development and comprises four discoveries with five well subsea development in ~1700 metres water depth, up to ~15 kilometres east and southeast of the producing D1D3 fields in KG D6.
The first of the KG D6 projects to be sanctioned, the R-series project, is already in execution phase with all major contracts awarded. The Satellites cluster project will draw on execution synergies with the R-series project being developed concurrently.
India today consumes over 5 billion cubic feet a day of natural gas and aspires to double gas consumption by 2022. Gas production from the integrated development is expected to help reduce India’s import dependence and amount to over 10% of the country’s projected gas demand in 2022; benefiting India and domestic consumers at large.
With many investments in India and employing around 7,500 people in the oil, gas, lubricants and petrochemicals businesses, bp is today the largest international oil company in India. bp’s activities include Castrol lubricants; the licensing of competitive petrochemical technologies; oil and gas trading; IT and procurement back office activities; staffing and training for its global marine fleet; and the recruitment of skilled Indian employees for its global businesses. As part of its gas value chain alliance with Reliance Industries Ltd., India Gas Solutions Private Limited, a 50:50 joint venture to source and market gas in India has been marketing gas.
RIL is India’s largest private sector company, with a consolidated turnover of INR 330,180 crore ($ 50.9 billion), cash profit of INR 42,800 crore ($ 6.6 billion), and net profit of INR 29,901 crore ($ 4.6 billion) for the year ended March 31, 2017.
RIL is the first private sector company from India to feature in Fortune’s Global 500 list of ‘World’s Largest Corporations’ – currently ranking 203rd in terms of revenues, and 110th in terms of profits. The company stands 106th in the ‘Forbes Global 2000’ rankings for 2017 – the top-most among Indian companies. It ranks amongst LinkedIn’s ‘Top Companies Where India Wants to Work Now’ (2018). RIL’s activities span hydrocarbon exploration and production, petroleum refining and marketing, petrochemicals, retail and 4G digital services.
bp press office, London:+44 20 7496 4076, bppress@bp.com
bp press office, New Delhi: +91 11 4375 5000, IndiaPressOffice@se1.bp.com
Reliance press office, Mumbai: +91 22 2278 5000 tushar.pania@ril.com