India Reliance D6 Block Capacity Falls From October Levels

India's Reliance Industries has a current gas output capacity of 52-53 million metric standard cubic meters a day (mmscmd) at its D6 block in Krishna-Godavari basin, head of India's upstream regulator said, lower than 60 mmscmd seen in last October.

"Oil and gas fields go through ups and down," S.K. Srivastva told reporters on Tuesday, when asked whether gas production at the D6 block has dropped. "In the life of a field such things happen."

Reliance owns 90% in the D6 block, off India's east coast, while Canada's Niko Resources holds the remainder. Srivastva said 22 wells will be operational in the gas block by April, up from the current 18, raising the output capacity to 60 mmscmd when the 2011/12 financial year begins. It could likely touch 80 mmscmd by 2012/13, he added.

The upstream regulator is believed to have asked Reliance, which began pumping gas from the D6 block in April 2009, to step up its output, as part of the estimated field development plan.

Reliance is expected to pump natural gas at full capacity from its deep-sea field during the year to March 2013, after a delay of almost two years.