Cairn reports marginal rise in Rajasthan output

Cairn India posted a 2% increase in crude oil production from its showpiece Rajasthan oilfields in the second quarter ended September 30.

 

Crude oil production in July-September averaged 175,478 barrels per day as against 171,801 bpd in the same period a year ago, Cairn said in a filing to the stock exchanges.

 

Output in the first half of the financial year averaged 174,503 bpd, 3% higher from a year earlier.

 

Cairn, which plans to invest about 2.5 billion in the Barmer oil block in Rajasthan over the next three years, is looking to exit the fiscal with an output of 215,000 bpd (10.7 million tons).

 

The company reported a 2% increase in production from its Ravva oil and gas fields at 29,151 bpd of oil and oil equivalent gas and output at the Cambay fields rose to 8,671 boepd.

 

"Production at Cambay was 27% higher in Q2 due to new infill wells and one work over well that had been put on production," it said.

 

Cairn said exploration drilling continues in the Rajasthan block with "the current programme targeting half of the 530 million barrels of gross recoverable resource base, including considerable deep gas prospects in this fiscal year."

 

Cairn is the operator of the Rajasthan block with a 70% stake, while the remaining 30% is held by state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp.

 

It has made 26 oil and gas discoveries in the block and is currently producing from the Mangala, Bhagyam, Aishwaria, Saraswati and Raageshwari fields.

 

The oil major plans to ramp up production from the Bhagyam field of the Barmer block during the second half of the current fiscal. Besides, it is looking at producing oil from two smaller fields at Barmer hills during the current fiscal.

 

The company plans to drill 100 new oil wells to monetise new reserves at the Rajasthan block, whose resource potential is 7.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent.