Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and its partner BP have begun production from the Satellite Cluster gas field in block KG D6, off the east coast of India, the companies said today. The Satellite Cluster is the second of the three developments to come onstream, following the start of R Cluster in December 2020.

It was scheduled to start production mid-2021. The field is located about 60 km from the existing onshore terminal at Kakinada on the east coast of India in water depths of up to 1,850 metres.

RIL and BP have been developing three deep-water gas developments in block KG D6 such as R Cluster, Satellite Cluster and MJ–which together are expected to produce around 30 mmscmd (1 billion cubic feet a day) of natural gas by 2023, meeting up to 15 per cent of India’s gas demand.

“The developments will each utilize the existing hub infrastructure in the KG D6 block. RIL is the operator of the block with a 66.67 per cent participating interest and bp holds a 33.33 per cent participating interest,” RIL said in a press statement.

The field will produce gas from four reservoirs utilising a total of five wells and is expected to reach an output of up to 6 mmscmd. Together, the R Cluster and Satellite Cluster are expected to contribute about 20 per cent to India’s current gas production.

The third KG D6 development, MJ, is expected to come onstream towards the latter half of 2022.

With state-run Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd (ONGC) also slated to begin the supply of 2 mmscmd of gas from KG-DWN-98/2 field in June 2021, India’s natural gas production is projected to jump 52 per cent to 122 million standard cubic meters (mmscmd) per day by 2024.