RIL starts pumping oil and gas from its Krishna Godavari oil fields.

RIL oil flows, import cut forecast


In a landmark development, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), India’s largest private sector company by turnover, has started pumping oil and gas from its Krishna Godavari basin oil field off the Andhra Pradesh coast.

RIL will start selling natural gas from the field in January 2009, bolstering India’s energy security in a major way.

From an initial flow of 5,000 barrels a day, the total oil and gas output from the field would rise to 550,000 barrels a day in 18 to 24 months.

This is about 40 per cent of the current indigenous production in India (currently at 1.3 million barrels a day), which imports 70 per cent of the oil it consumes. At that time, oil and gas from the KG basin could mean savings of up to Rs 86,000 crore in oil bills for the country.

“Reliance began oil production from its predominantly gas-rich D6 block on September 17 with initial oil flowing at the rate of 5,500 barrels per day,” Mukesh Ambani, chairman, RIL announced on Sunday. “This is a finite resource and should last for 10-12 years.” The first batch of oil is currently being sold to Hindustan Petroleum.

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