Reliance Industries' prolific D-1 and D-3 gas fields off the East Coast, which have seen a 15 per cent drop in production in recent times, are likely to touch a peak output of 80 million standard cubic metres per day in 2012-13.
According to a Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) report to the oil ministry, the Dhirubhai-1 and 3 fields -- also known as D-1 and D-3 -- in the KG-D6 block are likely to produce 80 mmscmd of gas for six years, from 2012-13 to 2017-18.
Together with gas output from the MA field in the same block, KG-D6 production in 2012-13 will touch 88.5 mmscmd, the report said.
The MA field currently produces about 8 mmscmd out of KG-D6's total output of around 54 mmscmd.
According to the production profile prepared by the DGH, production from KG-D6 will be 86-87 mmscmd between 2013 and 2016 before dipping to 81.24 mmscmd in 2017-18. Subsequently, the output will gradually taper down to less than 40 mmscmd by 2020-21.
Sources said the D-1 and D-3 fields have seen output fall from 53-54 mmscmd in mid-2010 to 45-46 mmscmd at present.
D-1 and D-3 are the largest among the 20 oil and gas finds that Reliance and its Canadian partner Niko Resources have made in the KG-D6 block, also known as KG-DWN-98/3, in the Krishna-Godavari Basin, off the Andhra Pradesh coast.
Besides D-1 and D-3, the D-26 or MA oilfield in the same block is producing about 8 mmscmd of associated gas. Cumulatively, the output from KG-D6 currently stands at around 54 mmscmd.
Earlier this year, the KG-D6 block hit a peak production rate of 60 mmscmd after which output has fallen, sources said, adding that the DGH has projected an output of 60.16 mmscmd in 2011-12.
As per the approved Field Development Plan (FDP), the D-1 and D-3 gas fields -- which began gas production in April last year -- have a field life of 13 years, with a plateau period of six years.
"The reservoir is a complex reservoir and has not behaved as previously modelled," a source said.
Reliance has been forced to restrict oil production from the MA field to under 20,000 barrels per day due to high water and gas output, sources said, adding the field was yielding more water than oil and even 8 mmscmd of gas in comparison to 20,000 bpd of oil was considered quite high.
Sources said Reliance will have to drill more wells to boost output to the approved peak of 80 mmscmd. Currently, 18 wells on D-1 and D-3 have been completed and hooked up to the production system, but only 17 are producing gas.
The company is currently selling 14.5 mmscmd of gas produced from the KG-D6 block to fertiliser plants, 26.5 mmscmd to power plants and the remaining 13 mmscmd to other sectors like sponge iron plants, LPG, city gas distribution (CGD), petrochemical plants and refineries.
