NEW DELHI: Reliance Industries will start surveying the entire D6 block after a week as it has secured all approvals to begin the process that will facilitate quick development of all untapped discoveries in the region and reverse the declining natural gas output from the deep-sea region, industry officials said.
The company has also surrendered 10 other exploration blocks, including three where BP held a stake, Reliance said in its quarterly earnings statement. Company executives said that these blocks were not promising.
The management committee of the block has cleared the company’s proposal to survey the entire block late on Friday. Earlier, the director general of hydrocarbons (DGH) had forbidden the survey and restricted the vessels to operate in only those areas where field development plans had been approved. ET had first reported on April 14 that the oil ministry had overruled the DGH and directed its officials to clear the proposal.
The company had argued that piecemeal survey of the block would require it to call specialised vessels repeatedly, adding to the cost of development but the DGH refused to approve the proposal.
Reliance plans to submit the integrated development plan for the entire block by October. Until now, the oil ministry had allowed gas production from very small portions of the block, which have only three of the 19 discoveries in the KG-D6 block.