RIL D-6 output to hit all-time low in 2014-15: Reddy

Gas output from Reliance Industries-operated D6 block, off India’s east coast, is projected to decline to 20 million standard cubic metres a day (mscmd) in 2014/15 from an estimated 28 mscmd in this fiscal year, Oil Minister S Jaipal Reddy said on Tuesday.

D6 gas output has been declining for more than a year, resulting in a sharp fall in India’s gas output and forcing the country to resort to increased imports of expensive liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet the demands of its expanding economy.

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Gas output may average 24 mscmd in the next fiscal year starting April 2013, Reddy told lawmakers in a written reply to a question.

He said gas availability in the country from local sources may rise to 113 mscmd in 2014/15 from an expected 104 mscmd in this fiscal year. In the next fiscal year it is projected to inch up to 105 mscmd, he said.

Last week the petroleum ministry issued a notice to RIL saying it will disallow reimbursement of $1 billion from RIL’s field-development costs as gas output has fallen sharply, leaving many facilities unutilised.

Agencies