Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and oil multinational BP on Thursday said the two companies will jointly invest $6 billion or around Rs 40,000 crore for development of three energy projects in India."We will invest Rs 40,000 crore over many years as new investment to bring in 30-35 million cubic metres of gas in next three-to-five years and sustain it over seven-to-eight years," Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said here at a press briefing, adding that the "solid relationship between our two companies is a great example of what can be achieved while working together at scale". The first project of the tie-up is to develop already discovered R-series gas fields in Block KGD6, approximately 70km off the east coast of India. It's a dry gas development project in water-depths of more than 2,000 metres. The project is expected to produce up to 12 million cubic metres of gas a day after going on-stream in 2020."India holds great promise for future," BP CEO Bob Dudley said, adding that tie-up was an important step for BP in India.
"Reliance and BP are now able to develop these major deep water gas resources offshore India efficiently and economically. It is testament to our commitment to working in partnership with Reliance and with the government to produce more energy in India, for India," Dudley said.BP plans to submit development plans for the next two projects for government approval before the end of 2017. Development of the three projects is expected to bring a total 30-35 million cubic metres of gas a day onstream, phased over 2020-2022. India consumes over 5 billion cubic feet (141.5 million cubic metres) a day of natural gas.Earlier, Dudley met Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Apart from the three projects, the two companies have also agreed for strategic cooperation, under which they will jointly explore options to develop differentiated fuels, mobility and advanced low carbon energy businesses in India, Ambani added.BP had entered into a partnership with RIL in 2011 with a 30 per cent stake in multiple oil and gas blocks operated by RIL in India, including KGD6. Since then, the two companies have invested over Rs 10,000 crore ($1.6 billion) in deepwater exploration and production up to May 2017, according to information given by RIL.