Mumbai, July 8: The consortium of Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and BG have resumed oil and gas production from the Panna and Mukta fields. Last month, production from the fields was shut because of an explosion.

It is understood that the fields will initially produce only 50 per cent of normal production and by the end of this month, production will be restored to normal levels. After they resumed production, the fields are generating around 20,000 barrels of oil per day.

The fields produce around 40,000 barrels per day of oil, which account for nearly 6 per cent of local production and around 17 million cubic metres per day of gas. Production at the fields resumed on July 4.

The field was shut on June 3 for maintenance work prior to the monsoon season. However, when the facility was being restarted, an explosion occurred, killing one person.

With production at the Panna and Mukta fields yet to reach normal levels, the consortium has been focussing on increasing output from Tapti which has been unaffected. The field is currently producing 13.5 million cubic metres per day of gas. On the other hand, the Panna and Mukta fields generate around 17 million cubic metres of gas per day. All the oil produced from the fields is sold to Indian Oil Corporation and gas to GAIL (India). After the accident, the consortium had declared force majeure. This means circumstances beyond an entity’s control has prevented it from fulfilling a contract.

BG and Reliance each own 30 per cent in the fields, while ONGC holds the rest. The consortium partners are planning to spend over Rs 4,000 crore to increase oil and gas production over the next five years.

Panna field comprises 430 sq km of area, located 50 km east of the Bombay High field. On the other hand, the Mukta field comprises of 777 sq km of area while the Tapti field covers an area of 1,471 sq km.

In April, GAIL (India) signed contracts for buying the entire volume of gas produced from the fields. According to the deal, GAIL will buy the gas at $5.73 per million British thermal unit from the Panna field and $5.57 per million British thermal unit of the Tapti field.