The output has dropped after hitting a peak of about 62 mmscmd in August, 2010.
The 'failure' to drill the committed 50 wells on the KG-D6 fields led to natural gas output dramatically falling over the past three years.
RIL had in February last year submitted a revised field development plan for the MA oilfield, which has been producing crude oil since September 2008.
Reliance Industries Limited had in late-August filed a revised field development plan for discoveries Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) in KG-DWN-98/3 cutting gas reserves to 3.10 Trillion cubic feet from 10.03 Tcf approved in 2006.
RIL in August submitted a revised field development plan for the Dhirubhai-1 & 3, the only producing gas fields among a total of 18 gas discoveries made so far in the KG-D6 block in Bay of Bengal, sources with direct knowledge of the development said.
The company had scaled down capex in D1 and D3 fields to $5.93 billion from the $8.84 billion spending it had proposed in 2006.
Reliance Industries has countered a report that the oil regulator, the DGH, used to target it for falling gas production from the KG-D6 fields, saying the study was done without visiting the fields and the company was not given an opportunity to present its views.
Reliance currently holds 90 per cent interest in KG-D6.
Reliance Industries, which has seen output from its prolific KG-D6 fields fall by 15 per cent, can raise production to 67-68 million cubic metres of gas a day by next month if it can drill additional wells.
RIL has slapped an arbitration notice challenging oil ministry's decision to take away 814 square kilometer of its eastern offshore KG-D6 area that contained five gas discoveries.
Reliance Industries has proposed to invest an additional $1.5 billion in bringing to production four gas discoveries adjoining its prolific gas fields in Krishna-Godavari basin in the country's east coast.
Government has approved Cairn Energy's one-billion dollar development plans for four of the 18 oil discoveries made by the British firm in its Rajasthan block.
\nRIL had earlier proposed investment of $2.47 billion to produce 40 mmscmd for 7.5 years from discoveries -- Dhirubhai 1 and 3 (in the D6 block) -- out of a total 34 wells.
Government had proposed a revised investment plan for the main gas fields in the KG-D6 block.
Cairn Energy of UK has secured a $1 billion banking facility to fund its Rajasthan oil field development plan.
India had included the penalty clause in the $22 billion deal it signed with Iran in June this year for import of five million tonnes of LNG for 25 years so that the fuel reaches its shores as per the committed schedule of 2009-10.
Post-cessation, activities related to the safe shutdown of the field are underway.
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The five discoveries -- D4, D7, D8, D16 and D23 - hold 0.805 trillion cubic feet of reserves, or about one-fourth of the restated reserves in the currently producing Dhirubhai-1 and 3 (D1&D3) fields in KG-D6 block, and are worth $10 billion.
Oil and Natural Gas Corp, which had last year firmed up an investment of Rs 34,012 crore (USD 5.076.37 billion) in bringing to production 10 oil and gas discoveries in its Bay of Bengal block KG-DWN-98/2 (KG-D5), plans to invest another Rs 21,528.10 crore (USD 3.2 billion) in developing the ultra-deepsea UD-1 find.
Oil Min rejects RIL arbitration notice.
RIL-BP currently produce gas from Dhirubhai-1 and 3 field and oil and gas from MA field, three of the over one-and-half dozen discoveries made in KG-D6 block
Contract does not provide for retrospective penalty for 'such' acts
While government/PSU procedures focus on piece meal & individual tenders taken on standalone basis, avoiding delays and cost of not doing things becomes a primary consideration in PSC procurement
The company has chalked out a detailed plan for development of its existing KG basin assets after integration with GSPC facilities.
In a presentation to investors in Mumbai last week, Aramane Giridhar, Joint Secretary (Exploration) gave detailed reasons for pendency of decisions in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas where officials approved of decisions but refused to issue formal orders, resulting in delays in production of oil and gas.
Reliance Industries and its partner BP Plc on Thursday won approval to invest $3.18 billion in R-Series gas field in the flagging KG-D6 block.
With this, the total penalty on RIL for missing the target in four fiscal years beginning April 1, 2010 now stands at a cumulative $2.376 billion, the Minister informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
The government has slapped an additional penalty of $792 million on Reliance Industries for producing less than targeted natural gas from its eastern offshore KG-D6 block.
The government had in May last year disallowed $1.005 billion expense of RIL on the flagging KG-D6 gas fields for not implementing the approved field development plan.
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While the Cabinet has approved doubling of gas price from April 1 next year, Oil Ministry is proposing that old rates of $4.2 per million British thermal unit apply to gas from D1/D3 and MA fields in eastern offshore KG-D6 block till it proved that RIL had proved less than targets only because of geological factors.
BP, which bought a 30 per cent stake in RIL's 21 oil and gas blocks, including KG-D6, for $7.026 billion in 2011, is working with RIL to arrest the output decline in the fields.
A report, by DeGoyler and MacNaughton, has put a question mark on the future production from the five ONGC discoveries.
The 25-year production sharing contract, however, ends in 2029.
The government had allowed companies in February last year to launch probe missions to find more oil and gas within already-producing areas.
Pradhan said a National Data Repository which will store information on all sedimentary basins of the country is being pursued on top priority.
The Directorate General of Hydrocarbons last month recommended to the Oil Ministry that $792 million of the cost RIL has incurred in KG-D6 fields be disallowed for producing only an average of 26.07 million cubic meters per day of gas as against the target of 86.73 mmcmd in 2012-13.
RIL has more than half a dozen undeveloped discoveries.
To proceed with a Cabinet proposal to grant the relaxations to RIL, the Election Commission's approval will be sought.
Reliance Industries has accused CAG of exceeding its brief in the audit of spending on eastern offshore KG-D6 block saying hindsight is being used to question operational decisions taken 8 years back.
Dispute resolution provisions in the production sharing contract remained unimplemented, while the regulator faltered, points out Jyoti Mukul.
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