Reliance to start commercial prod from KG basin by mid year

Mumbai, Jan 8: Reliance Petroleum will start commercial production of natural gas from the Krishna Godavri (KG) basin by the middle of this year, with a peak capacity of 80 cubic meters, Reliance Industry Chief Executive Officer PMS Prasad said today.

Speaking at the first-ever Road Show to kickstart the seventh round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP), Mr Prasad said that the East-West Gas pipeline, being built by company's subsidiary, Reliance Gas Transportation Limited (RGTL), will also be ready by then. Mr Prasad said that the year 2008 would be inflexion period for Reliance Petroleum.

The CEO also said that the company will start production of oil and gas by the middle of this year and added that this would be the fastest development in the KG basin after the discovery, after the British gas project in Egypt.

He said that the capital investment in the project was 5.2 billion dollars and that there was no cost or time escalation.

Stating that the production cost would be around five dollar per barrel of oil equivalent, Mr Prasad said that the price would be the lowest in the industry.

He said that the company was currently exploring in 35 blocks, covering an area of about 34,000 sq km, of which 28800 sq km was in deep waters.

UNI