Shirish Nadkarni
OGJ Correspondent
MUMBAI, Oct. 26 -- Reliance Industries Ltd. E&P (Petroleum), Mumbai, and joint venture partner Niko Resources Ltd., Calgary, plan to invest $3.26 billion for the development, production, and transportation of natural gas from fields on the deepwater KG-D6 block in the Krishna Godavari basin off eastern India. The block, 40-60-km southeast of Kakinada, covers 7,600 sq km in water 400-2,700 m deep.
Operator Reliance said it likely would develop the field with a semisubmersible platform with batch wells, to be reentered later, and subsea trees connected to several subsea manifolds tied back to an onshore terminal. About one third of the cost will be for infrastructure such as gas pipelines, Reliance said.
The first well completions are slated for first half 2006, and the company expects initial production of 40 million cu m/day of gas from block, said Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Anil Ambani.