NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Global oil company BP and its partner Reliance Industries plan to invest $8-10 billion by 2016/17 in further development of the D6 gas block, Oil Minister M. Veerappa Moily said on Friday.
It was not immediately clear if this was an additional investment or already in budget plans for the block, where production has been in steady decline since 2010.
Natural gas output from the block, in which BP has a 30 percent equity stake, has declined to 14 million cubic metres per day (mmscmd) from 60 mmscmd at the end of 2010.
The companies have cited geological complexities for the fall in output while the oil regulator believes they failed to drill enough wells.
(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; editing by Malini Menon)