Cairn India inches up after reporting increase in production in Q4

Cairn India rose 0.62% to Rs 292.45 at 14:12 IST on BSE after the company said its average daily gross operated production rose 12% at 2.02 lakh barrels of oil equivalent in Q4 March 2013 over Q4 March 2012.

The company announced the production data during trading hours today, 10 April 2013.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was up 120.63 points or 0.66% at 18,347.11.

On BSE, 1.46 lakh shares were traded in the counter as against average daily volume of 2.91 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 295 and a low of Rs 288.20 so far during the day. The stock had hit a 52-week high of Rs 365.90 on 17 September 2012. The stock had hit a 52-week low of Rs 267.90 on 28 March 2013.

The stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 9 April 2013, sliding 4.95% compared with the Sensex's 7.4% fall. The scrip had, however, underperformed the market in past one quarter, declining 15.39% as against Sensex's 7.32% fall.

The large-cap company has equity capital of Rs 1910.24 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

Cairn India said that the company's working interest production rose 18% to 1.26 lakh barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) in Q4 March 2013 over Q4 March 2012. The increase was driven by ramp-up at the Rajasthan block, where gross production was 22% higher at 168,594 bopd in Q4 March 2013 over Q4 March 2012, Cairn India said.

At the end of Q4 March 2013, oil production was commenced from Aishwariya, the third largest oil field in the Rajasthan block, which will ramp up to the FDP approved production level of 10,000 bopd, Cairn India said. Commercial gas sales were also commenced from the Rajasthan block during Q4 March 2013 with initial volumes of 5 million standard cubic feet per day, the company said in a statement.

Cairn India said that following clarification from the Government of India that exploration would be permitted in development areas, exploration drilling was commenced in the Rajasthan block in February, the company said. This is a step towards realising the basin potential of 3 lakh bopd. Recent exploration drilling has resulted in a discovery, the 26th in the Rajasthan block, Cairn India said in a statement.

In the Sri Lanka block, the Phase-II exploratory well encountered multiple reservoir sands without hydrocarbons, and was plugged and abandoned, Cairn India said. Earlier, a three-well Phase-I exploration resulted in two successful discoveries. Cairn India said it continues to work on the Sri Lanka block, and the data from the Phase-II well along with the results of the prior two discoveries are being integrated to fully understand the future block potential.

Cairn India's consolidated net profit jumped 47.9% to Rs 3344.89 crore on 38.1% growth in net sales to Rs 4277.61 crore in Q3 December 2012 over Q3 December 2011. The company unveils FY 2013 results on 22 April 2013.

Cairn India is primarily engaged in the business of oil and gas exploration, production and transportation. The company sells its oil to major refineries in India and its gas to both PSU and private buyers.

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