Cairn produces 3.6% less oil in Q4 than target

Cairn India produced 3.6% less crude oil than the stated target of 175,000 barrels per day from its prolific Rajasthan block in the fourth quarter ended March 31.

The company on an average produced 168,594 bpd of crude oil from Rajasthan, lower than the 175,000 bpd declared target, Cairn said in a production update.

The output in January-March was however 22% more than 137,634 bpd in the same period of the previous fiscal.

Rajasthan fields, which began production at the end of August 2009, have lagged output targets since November/ December 2012.

As per the stated targets, Cairn's Mangala, the largest among the 26 oil and gas find in the Barmer basin Rajasthan block, should have produced 150,000 bpd and Bhagyam another 25,000 bpd.

For the full 2012-13 fiscal, it produced 169,390 bpd, which was 32% higher than 128,267 bpd output in the previous financial year, but lower than 175,000 bpd target.

"At the end of Q4, oil production was commenced from Aishwariya, the third largest oil field in the Rajasthan block, which will ramp up to the approved production level of 10,000 bpd," Cairn said without giving a timeframe.

"Commercial gas sales were also commenced from the Rajasthan block during Q4 with initial volumes of 5 million standard cubic feet per day," it added.

The company said it commenced exploration drilling following permission from the government to carry out such activity within a production area well after expiry of the exploration phase.

"This is a step towards realising the basin potential of 300,000 bpd," it said, adding that the exploration drilling has resulted in the 26th discovery in the Rajasthan block.

From all its assets, Cairn's average daily gross operated production was 202,014 bpd in Q4, 12% higher than the corresponding prior period.

On its exploration campaign in Sri Lanka, Cairn said the Phase-II exploratory well encountered multiple reservoir sands without hydrocarbons, and was plugged and abandoned.

Earlier, a three-well Phase-I exploration resulted in two successful discoveries. "We continue to work on the Sri Lanka block, and the data from this Phase-II well along with the results of the prior two discoveries are being integrated to fully understand the future block potential," the statement added.