Reliance Industries produces from first deepwater field in India

Dec. 1, 2008
New production may prove vital to India’s economy
New production may prove vital to India’s economy

Tracy Dulle - Technology Editor, Surface Systems & Vessels

Reliance Industries began production in the KG-D6 block of Krishna Godavari basin on Sept. 17, 2008. A first of its kind hydrocarbons production from any deepwater field in India, Reliance KG-D6 will account for 40% of the country’s indigenous hydrocarbon production, lending to its selection inOffshore’s Top 5 Projects for 2008.

It is estimated that the production from KG-D6 facility will save India an annual foreign exchange outflow of $20 billion.

Subsea layout of Reliance’s KG-D6 development.
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“With this, a new frontier area in the deep waters of our East Coast has opened up,” says Mukesh D. Ambani, chairman and managing director at Reliance. “This has huge significance for India’s economic development.”

The KG-D6 block is in the Bay of Bengal at a water depth of 8,000 ft (2,483 m), 50 km (31 mi) from the nearest coast of Kakinada in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

The field initially produces about 5,000 b/d of crude and is expected to reach its peak hydrocarbon production of 550,000 boe/d over the next six to eight quarters.

It produces sweet crude of 42° API which can be processed by any refinery in the country.

Another impressive feat: From the time of its discovery, RIL started production of oil in KG-D6 in just over two years, making it one of the fastest greenfield deepwater oil development projects in the world.

This has been achieved against challenges like difficult ocean conditions, lack of adequate subsea data, low sea bed temperature (5° C [41° F]), severe supply chain constraints, and a shortage of technical manpower.

“Drilling in unchartered waters under hostile weather, including frequent cyclonic conditions, is always hazardous,” Ambani says. “We did that by deploying state-of-the-art drilling and production technologies.”

Ambani says this is the first step in what will be a significant change in India’s economic future.

“It marks the first production from just one field that is part of a larger discovery domain. We can now confidently look forward to production from a series of other fields. Its impact on the fortunes of India and Reliance will be enormous,” he says.

The new production will enable India’s farmers to access energy, and will provide distributed power to urban and rural areas at a faster pace than currently, Ambani says, adding that with this production, the East Coast of India is set to emerge as a world class hydrocarbon hub.

In the beginning

Aker-Kvaerner Subsea completed the front-end engineering and design on the project in 2005. The company then won the $400-million engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract, and delivered a complete subsea production system within 16 months.

The KG-D6 deepwater development includes 19 subsea trees, six six-slot production manifolds, one deepwater pipeline end manifold, one umbilical distribution hub, three subsea distribution assemblies, 32 lengths of steel-tube umbilical totaling 101 km (63 mi), and 57 km (35 mi) of electrical power cable.

Some of the wells have high flow potential, so the bore in eight of the subsea trees is 178 mm (7 in.). These structures weigh 55 metric tons (61 tons) each.

Each production manifold has two to five wells tied back to it, the longest tieback being 6.4 km (4 mi). From the manifolds, production flows through in-field pipelines to the pipeline end manifold (PLEM); the longest manifold tieback is 6.8 km (4.2 mi).

The development of KG-D6 block is complex due to the metocean conditions, an uneven terrain for subsea activities, strong subsea currents, and a very tight supply chain. The performance of this block is subject to risks common to E&P, which include geological conditions being more complex than originally predicted, stratigraphic compartmentalization, water encroachment or water breakthrough, permeability issues, inadequate pressure support, poor or inadequate well spacing, and operating efficiencies.

Reliance operates a supply-chain system with sea and air logistics support.

FPSODhirubhai-1 has produced first oil from the KG-D6 block of the Krishna Godavari basin.
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The first vessel of its kind in Indian water, theDhirubhai-1, can operate in water depths greater than 1,200 m (3,937 ft) with features that can help withstand the harsh environment. It has a disconnectable turret mooring system, insulated manifold, and short, flexible flowlines that ensure production despite the tough weather conditions on the East Coast of India.

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“This is a significant moment,” says Arne Tørnkvist, CEO of Aker Floating Production. “It marks the start of a new era in Indian oil history, with the development of the huge oil and gas reservoirs on the east coast.”

As with the delivery of the subsea system, only 16 months passed since Aker Floating Production won the contract from Reliance for the conversion of a tanker to an FPSO.

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“An FPSO vessel of this size and complexity has never been delivered faster,” Tørnkvist adds.

TheDhirubhai-1 has a daily production capacity of 60,000 bbl of oil and storage capacity of around 1.3 MMbbl of oil. The FPSO will also export up to 300 MMcf/d (8.5 cm/d) of gas. The FPSO, one of the most sophisticated in the world, will be operated from the small Norwegian village of Brevik, through a specially designed system for integrated operations.

“Everything that happens on the ship, right down to the opening or closing of the tiniest valve, we can follow as it is happening on our screens in the Operations Room here in Brevik,” says Gard Madsen, chief executive of Aker Borgestad.

“We see exactly the same data that they have on the ship itself at the same time that they see it, enabling us to provide minute to minute support,” he adds.

The KG-D6 block in Krishna Godavari basin was awarded to RIL under NELP-I. RIL holds 90% participating interest and Niko Resources Ltd. holds 10%. Reliance is the largest exploration acreage holder in the private sector in India.