Cairn commences gas sales, Aishwariya block production

To invest Rs 6000 crore in Rajasthan next fiscal

Anil Agarwal-led Cairn India Ltd is planning to invest Rs 6,000 crore on exploration and development activities in its Rajasthan field during 2013-14. The company and its joint operator ONGC Ltd today commenced commercial sales of gas from its Barmer block and also production from Aishwariya field here.

Rajasthan Block (RJ-ON-90/1) is India's largest onshore field. Aishwariya is the third largest discovery in Rajasthan Block.

"The company's gross investment in Rajasthan till now is Rs 18,000 crore and plans to invest over Rs 6,000 crore in exploration and development activities," said P Elango, member of board, Cairn India. The initial commercial volumes will be about 5 mmscf per day.

The RJ-ON-90/1 block currently produces about 30 mmscf of gas per day from the Raageshwari Deep Gas field and as associated gas along with crude oil from the Mangala and Bhagyam fields. This production is currently being used to meet the energy requirements at the Mangala Processing Terminal and the ~600 km crude oil pipeline primarily for the purpose of heating the waxy crude produced from the block.

ONGC has 30% stake in the block. The gas sales and Aishwariya was inaugurated by Petroleum and Natural Gas minister M Veerappa Moily.

Following government’s decision to allow exploration, Cairn-ONGC joint venture has commenced drilling of the first exploration well, after a gap of more than five years, Barmer Basin.