Reliance-BP's KG-D6 Gas Output Falls 7% in June Quarter as Decline Persists

Natural gas production at the KG-D6 fields operated by Reliance Industries Ltd and BP Plc fell nearly 7% year-on-year in the June quarter, as the natural decline that began in mid-2025 continues.

In an April-June quarter earnings presentation at analyst call, Reliance said gas output in Q1 averaged 24.8 million standard cubic meters per day, down from 26.6 mmscmd in April-June 2025.

The output was lower than 25.2 mmscmd in the preceding January-March quarter.

Production from the second-wave of discoveries in the KG-D6 block peaked in January-March 2024 to 30.6 mmscmd but has since been on the decline. Output has since fallen by 19%.

Reliance did not immediately provide additional details on production volumes or a timeline for arresting the decline.

At the analyst call, a company official said, "In KG-D6, whilst there is a natural decline, it's lower than what we had expected, so we have a plan to offset this natural decline, which I'll talk about shortly." As the operator of KG-D6 block, Reliance holds a 66.67% stake while BP has the remaining 33.33%.

Reliance has so far made 19 gas discoveries in the KG-DWN-98/3 or KG-D6 block in the deepsea of Bay of Bengal. Of these, D-1 and D-3 -- the largest among the lot -- were brought into production in April 2009, and MA, the only oilfield in the block, was put into production in September 2008.

While the MA field stopped producing in September 2018, output from D-1 and D-3 ceased in February 2020.

Reliance had faced sharper than anticipated decline in output at D-1 & D-3, whose production planning happened before BP came in. The wells it had drilled saw unanticipated water and sand ingress in wells, leading to output fall.

Subsequently, Reliance and BP, which was brought in as a technical partner in 2011, invested about USD 5 billion in bringing to production three deepwater gas projects in block KG-D6 -- R-Cluster, Satellites Cluster, and MJ.

Gas and condensate production from the R-Cluster field started in December 2020 and Satellite Cluster in April 2021. MJ field was put to production in June 2023. At peak, the three were supposed to meet about 15 per cent of India's total natural gas demand.

India consumes around 200 mmscmd of gas currently.

Reliance said it fetched $8.89 per million British thermal unit of gas sold in Q1, down from $9.97 a year back. It realised $107.4 per barrel price for the oil/condensate produced in the quarter, up from $69.9 a barrel last year.

BP, which has been assisting Reliance in producing oil and gas from KG-D6 block, has since been roped in as technical partner by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) to assist in arresting and raising oil and gas output from Mumbai High as well as western offshore fields - the biggest in India.