Govt gets over Rs 35k cr from Cairn's Rajasthan oil block in 5 yrs

Cairn began production from Mangala oilfield on August 29, 2009

Cairn India's prolific Rajasthan oil block, which completed five years of operations, has contributed over Rs 35,000 crore to the exchequer in taxes and profit petroleum.

Cairn began production from Mangala oilfield, India's largest onshore oilfield, on August 29, 2009 and has been producing continuously for five years now.

During this period, Mangala and other fields in the Barmer basin Rajasthan block have contributed over Rs 35,000 crore in taxes and profit petroleum to the government, sources said.

Crude oil production from the block has helped in gross cumulative import bill reduction by Rs 119,000 crore (about USD 22 billion) till end of last fiscal year, they said.

For a nation that imports about 80% of its oil requirements, the output from the Rajasthan fields accounts for close to 25 per cent of domestic crude production.

Apart from the contribution to the national exchequer, the discovery of Mangala has brought in a transformation in the socio-economic landscape of the region as well.

Land-owners, who used to be dependent on sporadic rainfall to sow and harvest the bajra crop, have seen their fortunes rise by selling their land to Cairn.

Driven by the entrepreneurial spirit of the local community, the service economy has been booming. Barmer, that used to have a couple of hotels in 2003, now boasts of 18 hotels.

Since beginning output in 2009, the Rajasthan block has produced over 240 million barrels of hydrocarbons.

Sources said the block, where 36 discoveries have been made so far, now is estimated to hold significant gas potential too.

Gas reserves in the block are estimated at 1-3 Trillion cubic feet (Tcf), over half of which can be produced.

Cairn currently sells 8-9 million standard cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas from the Raageshwari Deep gas field, which it plans to more than double to 22 mmcfd by the end of the current fiscal and take it to 90 mmscfd by FY16.

The company estimated an in-place resource potential of about 10 billion barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas in the Rajasthan block.

Of this, 5.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe) has already been established and another 0.6 billion boe have been discovered. The rest 4.2 billion boe is yet to be drilled.

Cairn has made 8 discoveries since resumption of exploration a year back to add 1.2 billion boe.

Its Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya or MBA oil fields hold 2.2 billion boe.

Cairn, which is investing $3 billion in raising oil production from the Rajasthan block, produced 181,894 barrels per day of oil in April-June quarter while gas output doubled to 8 million standard cubic feet per day.