BG Group of UK has commenced oil production from the Mukta-B installation on the Panna-Mukta and Tapti oil and gas field in the western offshore.
BG India, a unit of the British giant, "achieved first oil production from the Mukta-B (MB), a 4 legged Wellhead Unmanned Platform in the offshore Bombay basin", it said in a statement.
It however did not give details of the production rate.
The British firm holds 30 per cent interest in the Panna- Mukta oil and gas fields. State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has 40 per cent stake while Reliance Industries holds the rest 30 per cent.
"The MB and MA pipelines have also been successfully completed as part of the project, enabling a restart of production from the MA platform, which had been shut-in due to pipeline integrity issues for the last 2.5 years," the statement said.
BG India President and Managing Director Shaleen Sharma said: "This is a significant milestone for BG India and the culmination of an integrated team effort by all functions and contract parties."
Incremental development of the existing fields via well intervention and infill drilling campaigns, as well as evaluating new projects and further development opportunities, is being planned, the statement said.
BG India has upstream interests in three offshore producing fields, two exploration licences and has contracted long-term liquefied natural gas (LNG) sales into the fast growing Indian gas market.
