RIL plans maintenance work of KG-D6 wells

RIL,he said,had to shutdown five wells in the eastern offshore KG-D6 block due to drop in pressure and water ingress.

Workover is meant to revive sick wells and if that happens production may go up,” he said.

Latest figures show gas production from the Dhirubhai-1 and 3 fields in the Krishna-Godavari Basin in the Bay of Bengal falling to a fresh low of 32.94 million cubic meters per day this month,down from the 54 mmcmd peak hit in March 2010 before well pressure dropped and water incursion began.

According to the original RIL’s development plan approved by the authorities,output should have reached 61.88 mmcmd this month. Associated gas production from the MA oil field in the same license area was 6.86 mmcmd,for a combined total of 39.8 mmcmd,versus the expected 70.39 mmcmd.

RIL has so far drilled 22 wells on D1&D3 but has not put four wells on production due to insignificant volumes. Of the 18 wells connected to production system,four had been shut due high water cut. One well on MA oilfield has also been shutdown.

Srivastava said RIL is planning workover on these shut wells.

Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy had last week told Parliament that RIL has to drill all 31 wells outlined in the original development plan by March 2012 and had blamed the production decline on the failure to do so.

His ministry is readying a note for disallowing USD 1.235 billion of the original costs on the grounds the drop in production has left some of the 80 mmcmd production facilities unused.

RIL opposes any move to restrict cost recovery,now 100 per cent in proportion to production and has slapped an arbitration notice on the ministry.

Srivastava refused to comment on the arbitration.

Of the 18 wells drilled,completed and put on production in the D1 and D3 fields,four wells — A2,B1,B2 and B13 had to be shut or closed due to high water cut/sanding issues.

While RIL holds 60 per cent interest in KG-D6,UK’s BP Plc holds 30 per cent and Niko Resources of Canada the remaining 10 per cent.

RIL started natural gas production from the KG-D6 fields in April 1,2009,with an output of 30 mmscmd from eight wells. This quickly rose to 40 mmscmd within 90 days.

By the October-December quarter,production had reached 60 mmscmd and RIL successfully tested the design capacity of the production facilities for handling 80 mmscmd of gas.

The MA oilfield currently produces about 12,715 barrels of crude oil per day. In addition,1,831 barrels of condensate are produced from the field every day.

Officials said 14.89 mmscmd of the gas output is being sold to fertiliser plants and 22.02 mmscmd to power plants. The remaining 2.89 mmscmd is consumed by other sectors,including those fed by the East-West pipeline that transports gas from the East Coast to consumption centres in the West.