Mumbai, Apr 19 (IANS): Reliance Industries (RIL) and British oil major BP on Thursday jointly announced the sanction of development work on the "Satellite cluster" deep-water gas fields in their Krishna Godavari (KG) D6 block on the eastern offshore.

According to a statement here, the "Satellite cluster" is the second of three projects in block KG D6, being operated by the RIL-led consortium that includes BP and the Canada-headquartered Niko Resources.

"The companies are moving forward to develop the block's discovered deep-water gas fields in an integrated series of projects, bringing new gas production for India," it said.

"The 'Satellite cluster' is the second of three projects in the Block KG D6 integrated development. The first of the projects, development of the 'R-Series' deep-water gas fields, was sanctioned in June 2017.

"Together the three projects will develop a total of about three trillion cubic feet of discovered gas resources with a total investment of Rs 40,000 crore ($6 billion).

"They are expected to bring a total of 30-35 million cubic metres (one billion cubic feet) of gas a day new domestic gas production onstream, phased over 2020-2022," it added.

Commenting on the development, RIL Chairman Mukesh Ambani said in a statement: "In consonance with our announcements last year to raise domestic gas production, we are delighted to announce the on-schedule progress of the Satellite cluster in the east coast of India."

"This latest investment is a further demonstration of BP's commitment to India," the statement cited BP Chief Executive Bob Dudley as saying in London.