Upstream oil regulator DGH has given nod to Reliance Industries to drill a well as part of the $1.529 billion plan to develop four satellite gas fields around the now flagging main fields in the eastern offshore KG—D6 block.

The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) on November 2 wrote to the Joint Secretary (Exploration) in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas that one development well KG—D6—G2 in the Dhirubhai—19 or D—19 field may be agreed.

D—19 is one of the four satellite gas field whose optimised field development plan (OFDP) was approved in January this year, the DGH wrote.

“Approved OFDP envisaged eight development gas wells with a peak gas production level of 10.30 million standard cubic meters per day,” it said.

RIL has till date made 18 gas and one oil find in the KG—DWN—98/3 or KG—D6 block in the Bay of Bengal. Of these, Dhirubhai—1 and 3, the largest of the 18 gas finds, were put on production in April 2009 while MA oil field came into production in September 2008.

D1&D3 have seen output drop from 55 mmscmd peak in August 2010 to 20.06 mmscmd this month as water and sand seaped into wells. High water and sand ingress has forced RIL to shut six out of the 18 wells on the fields.

MA field has seen output drop for the same reasons from over 8 mmscmd to 5.05 mmscmd.

In a separate letter, the DGH advised RIL “to monitor the water/gas ratio closely and adopt suitable measures in case of deviation from the envisaged profile.”

The satellite fields are key to RIL reversing the flagging output from the KG—D6 block.

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