Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) will invest $1.139 billion to produce 35-40 million metric standard cubic metres of gas a day from its six gas finds in the Mahanadi block, situated off the east coast.
A DGH official said RIL has submitted an initial development plan (IDP) for six gas discoveries in the NEC-25 block in Orissa, envisaging a production rate of 35-40 million standard cubic meters per day.
?We have received the IDP and will be discussing certain issues with Reliance. The development plan in all likelihood will be approved by April,? the official said.
Government approval could come by April if RIL submitted a timeline for production. The official said the Mahanadi block finds would be Reliance’s major discoveries after the KG basin discoveries.
The NEC-25 block of RIL is north of the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin where it has made significant natural gas discoveries. RIL is spending $8.7 billion on development and production of its KG basin deep-sea gas fields, from which it aims to produce up to 80 mmscmd of gas in the second half of the 2008-09.
The official said the investments proposed by RIL in IDP is to drill 12 development wells in the six finds, and aimed to produce gas from the Mahanadi block after it had begun commercial production from the KG block. The total potential of the six discoveries is 8.2 trillion cubic feet of which 1.1 tcf is recoverable, he said.