Reliance Industries has reported that natural gas production at its eastern offshore KG-D6 fields dropped to less than 15 million standard cubic metres per day, the lowest level since starting output in April 2009.
RIL produced a total of 14.83 mmscmd from Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) gas fields and MA oil and gas field in the KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block in Bay of Bengal in the week ended May 26, according to a status report of the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons.
RIL has shut half of the 18 wells on D1&D3 field due to high water and sand ingress and a third of 6 wells on MA field due to the same reason.
The report said D1&D3 fields produced 11.05 mmscmd of gas while the rest came from MA field. Output at D1&D3 field has dropped from 12.35 mmscmd in March and 11.85 mmscmd in April.
MA field produced an average of 5,709 barrels of oil in the week ending May 26.
RIL has so far drilled 22 wells on D1&D3 fields but has put only 18 on production so far. Half of these wells are
now shut.
KG-D6 fields, which began gas production in April 2009, had hit a peak of 69.43 mmscmd in March 2010 before water and sand ingress shut down well after well.
This peak output comprised 66.35 mmscmd from D1&D3, the largest of the 18 gas discoveries on the KG-D6 block, and 3.07 mmscmd from MA field, the only oil discovery on the block.
Besides the fall in output from D1&D3, gas production from MA field, which had hit a peak of 6.78 mmscmd in January 2012, too has dropped.
The report said of the 14.83 mmscmd of gas production from KG-D6, 14.34 mmscmd was sold to urea manufacturing fertiliser plants. No sale was made to power plants.
The remaining 0.49 mmscmd was consumed by LPG manufacturing plants and the pipeline that transports the KG-D6 gas, it said.
RIL, the report said, has projected an output of 14.50 mmscmd last week of May.
The company has so far made 18 gas and one oil discovery in the Krishna Godavari basin block in Bay of Bengal.
While the lone oil find, MA went on stream in September 2008, largest among the gas finds, D1&D3 were put on production in April, 2009.