“As the Norwegian ambassador to India, I am proud to see how well Aker Solutions and RIL are cooperating on developing this oil and gas field, and I am confident that this will be the first of a number of similar Indian offshore projects where Norwegian companies such as Aker Solutions will contribute with technology and know-how,” ambassador Ollestad said during her visit to the KG-D6 field.
The oil and gas fields in the block KG D6 are located in the Bay of Bengal, 50 kilometres offshore the east coast of India and in water depths of up to 1.2 kilometres. Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is the operator that has developed the field. In this endeavour, it is the Norwegian company Aker Solutions which has manufactured and delivered the field’s complete subsea production system as well as supported the installation activities of the subsea equipment. The field comprises of India’s first FPSO (Floating Production, Storage and Offloading), Dhirubhai-1 that has been constructed by Aker Floating Production. Dhirubhai-1 is one of the most advanced FPSO currently operating in any oil and gas field and is currently leased to RIL. The Operations and Maintenance of FPSO is now managed by Aker Borgestad Operations.
Accompanied by RIL’s Senior Vice President, V. Sridhar and Mr. Pothen Paul, Aker Solutions Country Manager for India, the Norwegian ambassador Ann Ollestad this week made a visit to the KG-D6 field. In addition to visiting the FPSO, the Ambassador also toured the Control and Riser Platform (CRP) and met representatives of the RIL management at the onshore gas terminal at Gadimoga in the state of Andhra Pradesh. During the visit, the delegation was briefed on how Norwegian subsea technology has been crucial to the development of the field, a field which is expected to more than double India’s gas production.
RIL produced its first oil from the KG-D6 field in September last year while the first gas was extracted in April 2009. The KG-D6 project is one of the world's largest subsea contracts ever awarded, valued at USD 400 million, and was signed in May 2006. Scope of supply for the project was a complete 18-well subsea production system, including 160 kilometres of steel tube umbilicals. According to Aker Solutions, a deepwater project with this scale and magnitude and complexity has never before been delivered quicker by any supplier till date.
Aker Solutions ASA, through its subsidiaries and affiliates ("Aker Solutions"), is a leading global provider of engineering and construction services, technology products and integrated solutions. Aker Solutions' business serves several industries, including oil & gas, refining & chemicals, mining & metals and power generation. In addition to the contributions to the KG D6 project mentioned above, Aker Solutions was also involved in a number of other aspects of the project: The Australian and Indian operations of Aker Solutions were responsible for the Onshore Terminal, the EDS business of Aker Solutions undertook front end engineering for the development of the field and Aker Process Systems was responsible for the MEG regeneration plant.
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is India’s largest private sector company, with a turnover of US$ 28.85 billion. RIL is also the largest Oil & Gas acreage holder among the private sector companies in India with 31 domestic exploration blocks covering an area of about 320,000 sq. km.