Reliance Industries and BP said they have sanctioned the development of the MJ deep-water gas field which forms the third phase of Block D6 in the Krishna Godavari basin.

MJ is the third of three projects in the D6 integrated scheme and its approval follows the sanctioning of the R-Series fields in June 2017 and the Satellites cluster in April 2018.

Together, the three projects are expected to develop 3 trillion cubic feet of gas with a total investment of US$5 billion.

Mukesh Ambani, managing director of Reliance, said: “Bringing these three discoveries to production, as promised in 2017, by leveraging the existing infrastructure has been the primary objective of the Reliance - BP joint venture."

"The gas will satiate the increasing demand for clean fuel in the country, save foreign exchange and reduce dependency on imported gas. We are excited about bringing this gas onshore from our third project on the east coast of India to power the Indian economy with an environment-friendly fuel and help strengthen energy security while moving towards meeting India's Climate Change Goal.”

MJ is a gas and condensate field in a high-temperature and pressure environment. Water depths range from 700 metres to 1100 metres.

MJ will comprise of wells connected to a subsea production system, and tied in to a floating production, storage and offloading vessel.

Gas will be exported to an onshore terminal through one of the existing 24-inch trunklines. The project is expected to begin production in mid-2022.

Online

Reliance and BP sanction MJ project