The company yesterday said the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons had approved a development plan for producing up to 40 million standard cubic metres per day of gas, initially from the Dhirubhai-1 and 3 wells in the KG-D6 block for 20 years.
Operator Reliance and Canadian partner Niko Resources (10%) have found gas in nine of 12 wells drilled so far in deep-sea block KG-DWN-98/3 (also known as KG-D6). But only Dhirubhai-1, 2 and 3 have so far been declared commercial.
The joint venture is expected to bring gas ashore to a processing facility near Kakinada through a 35km pipeline, though no firm development timetable has yet been published.
Indian media reports also quote State Finance Minister K Rosaiah as saying officials have been instructed to prepare a draft plan to begin the pipeline network project at the earliest opportunity.
Reliance Industries on Wednesday became the first private sector Indian company to record a net profit exceeding US$1.7 billion when it reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 7,628 Crores (US$1.74 billion) for the year, an increase of 47%.
