Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), the Rs 1,39,269-crore refining-cum-petrochemical giant and the country’s largest private sector company, today staked its claim for a place in the league of top 20 global exploration and production (E&P) firms, by announcing commencement of crude oil production from its D6 block in the Krishna Godavari basin.

Addressing the media four days after oil gushed from the Dhirubhai 26 (D26) field, RIL chairman and managing director Mukesh Ambani said production would be ramped up to 5,50,000 barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day from 7,000 barrels a day now over the next 6-8 quarters.

Almost 85-90 per cent of this is expected to be gas, and the balance 10-15 per cent oil. To put things in perspective, the 5,50,000 BOE a day is almost 40 per cent of the total hydrocarbons production in the country. In value terms, it adds up to a staggering Rs 86,000 crore a year. According to Ambani, this will save $20 billion in precious foreign exchange for India that imports almost 70 per cent of its annual crude oil requirement. The country’s import bill is estimated to be $77 billion in the current fiscal, up 15 per cent compared with 2007-08.

“By 2009-10, the upstream or the E&P business will bring almost a quarter of the total profits for Reliance,” said Ambani, underscoring the significance of the discovery made in February 2006 and the company’s implementation skills in commercially exploiting it in less than 30 months. The contribution from E&P business to RIL’s profits is based on the current crude oil price of $100 a barrel and a gas price of $4.21 per mmbtu. “Over a period of time, E&P’s share is likely to be a third in RIL’s total profits,” he said.

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