BP mulling Indian gas block purchase

7th Feb 2011 12:14

BP is deciding whether to buy a 30-45% stake in the D6 hydrocarbon block in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin off the east coast of India.According to the Mint newspaper, the company has been in talks with the block's owner, energy giant Reliance Industries, "for some time".Reliance, India's largest company, has a 90% interest in the KG D6 field, the world's biggest natural gas discovery in 2002."From among the world majors, ultimately BP was short-listed. The talks have been on for some time now. BP is quite serious," a senior executive at Reliance told the paper.Gas output at the block is running at 50-52m cubic metres of gas a day (mscmd), down from 60mscmd last year.India's oil ministry expects the field to produce 59.4 mscmd in 2010-11 before peaking at 88.5 mscmd in 2012-13.