Cairn to invest $3 bn to find more oil and gas

Cairn India will invest Rs.16,000 crore ($3 billion) over the next three years in finding more oil and gas in its oil blocks in Rajasthan and elsewhere in the country, chairman Navin Agarwal said Wednesday.

"Over the next three years, through the end of FY2016, your company will invest more than Rs.16,000 crore ($3 billion) in pursuit of finding and producing more oil. In Rajasthan, your company will invest more than Rs.13,000 crore ($2.4 billion) and drill more than 450 wells," Agarwal told the company's annual shareholders meeting.

Cairn plans to raise crude oil production from Rajasthan fields by as much as 23 percent to 215,000 barrels per day by March 2014. The block currently produces under 175,000 bpd from five fields. A barrel is 159 litres.

Cairn plans to drill more than 450 wells in Rajasthan block over a three-year period.

The wells planned include 100 exploration and appraisal (E&A) wells aimed to target gross recoverable risked prospective resource of 530 million barrels of oil equivalent.

"We have a well-balanced portfolio of exploration, development and producing assets and a clear plan, which will see us aggressively pursue exploration and development opportunities in the months and years ahead," Agarwal said.

Cairn India has discovered around 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent resources but has drilled only a part of its acreage.

The company contributed more than 80 percent of the country's crude oil production growth in 2012-13, saving Rs.38,500 crore ($7 billion) in foreign exchange, Agarwal said.

The company is seeking approval of an Integrated Field Development Plan for Rajasthan discoveries.

"An early approval will substantially expedite production ramp up," the chairman said.

"In addition to sustaining and increasing production from five oil producing fields, your company is also working towards commercialising 20 other discoveries," he added.