The KG-D6 Block integrated development project, located in the Krishna Godavari Basin of India involves the development of three new deepwater fields, namely R-Cluster, Satellites Cluster and MJ.

Reliance Industries is the operator and holds a 66.67% participating interest in the KG-D6 block while the remaining 33.33% interest is held by BP.

The total investment in the KG-D6 integrated development project is estimated to be approximately £3.93bn ($5bn).

The cumulative gas production from the three fields is expected to reach approximately one billion cubic feet a day (bcfd) by 2023. The aggregate production from the three fields, when fully operational, is estimated to meet approximately 15% of India’s total gas demand.

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The R-Cluster, an ultra-deepwater gas project, is the first field in the Block KG D6 integrated development to start production in December 2020. It is considered to be one of the deepest offshore gas fields in Asia.

KG-D6 block location and gas reserves

The KG-D6 block is located in the Krishna Godavari Basin, off the coast of Kakinada, India. The offshore block is situated approximately 40-60km southeast of Kakinada in the Bay of Bengal. The water depth in the area ranges from 400m to 2,300m.

The R-Cluster, Satellites Cluster and MJ fields in the KG-D6 block are estimated to hold approximately three trillion cubic feet (tcf) of recoverable gas reserves.

R-Cluster

The R-Cluster field development involves a subsea production system tied back to the existing KG-D6 control and riser platform (CRP). The field consists of six development wells connected to the CRP through an 18in-diameter subsea pipeline.

The R-Cluster field is located approximately 60km away from the CRP. The water depth in the field area is greater than 2,000m.

The partners approved the development of the R-Cluster field in June 2017 while the first gas was produced in December 2020. The gas production from the field is expected to reach 12.9 million cubic metres (mcm) a day in 2021.

Satellites Cluster

The Satellites Cluster field development involves a subsea production system tie back to the existing control and riser platform. The initial field development plan comprises five development wells.

The installation of a 16in-diameter gas evacuation pipeline, as well as the suction piles for the subsea structures were completed in the first quarter of 2020.

The Satellites Cluster field development was approved by the partners in April 2018  with the start of gas production expected in 2021.

MJ Field

The MJ field development will comprise seven subsea wells tied back to a floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessel. The well stream will be initially processed in the FPSO and the separated gas will be pumped via an existing 24in-diameter pipeline to the shore.

The water depth in the field ranges from 700m to 1,100m, while the well depth is approximately 4,200m.

Reliance and BP approved the MJ field development in June 2019 with the first gas expected in 2022.

Contracts awarded

McDermott received a letter of award for the KG-D6 R-cluster field subsea installation contract from Reliance Industries in November 2017.

The contract scope spans engineering, procurement, installation, and pre-commissioning of the subsea flowlines, vent lines, a pipeline-end manifold, in-field pipelines, Monoethylene Glycol (MEG) line, pipeline-end terminals, jumpers, risers, and the umbilicals system, as well as the modification of the control riser platform.

McDermott International completed the first two offshore campaigns for the KG-D6 R-Cluster project in July 2019.

Separately, McDermott was also awarded a contract for Satellite cluster development in July 2018.

OneSubsea bagged an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the supply of the subsea production system for the R-Cluster field in October 2017. The scope of this project includes the subsea trees, manifolds, control system, tie-in system, multi-phase meters, intervention tooling, and test equipment.

Samsung Heavy Industries was awarded a contract worth approximately £742mn ($963mn) to build an FPSO for the MJ field in April 2019.

APL, a subsidiary of National Oilwell Varco (NOV), received a contract by Samsung Heavy Industries to supply a large submerged turret production (STP) system for the FPSO in July 2019.

History of the KG-D6 Block

The D1D3 field in the KG-D6 block had been in production from April 2009 to February 2020. The field development partners completed safe cessation of production from the field in February 2020.

The MA field, another field the KG D6 block, ceased production in September 2018. The field was discovered in 2006 and was in production since September 2008.

The overall production from the KG-D6 block was approximately 3tcf equivalent of gas, oil and condensate as of February 2020. The three new fields being developed in the KG-D6 block will utilise the existing production facilities.