In a positive development for India's stride towards achieving energy independence, Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) and British multinational oil and gas major BP Plc have announced their first gas finding in what is Asia's deepest offshore field, reports Business Standard.

The combine has struck gas at the ultra-deep-water gas field called R Cluster of the Krishna Godavari (KG) D6 basin. Other than this, the combine is also developing two more deep-water gas fields in KG D6 block, called the Satellites Cluster and MJ.

Once operational by 2023, the production from the three gas fields will together meet 15 per cent of India's gas demand.

The R Cluster is located about 60 km from the existing KG D6 Control & Riser Platform (CRP), off the Kakinada coast. It is located at a water depth of greater than 2,000 metres, and is the deepest offshore gas field in Asia.

The R Cluster field is expected to reach the plateau gas production of about 12.9 million standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) in 2021, following which the Satellites Cluster is also expected to be operationalised in 2021 itself. Finally, the MJ gas field will also be operationalised in 2022.

Together, the peak production from the three gas fields is expected to be around 30 mmscmd by 2023 which will be about 25 per cent of the nation's entire gas production as of 2023, reducing India's dependence on imported gas.

RIL is the operator of the KG D6 basin with 66.67 per cent participating interest, while BP Plc holds 33.33 per cent share.