Production rising at Mangala field in India

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Jan. 28 -- Oil production from Mangala field in Rajasthan, India, has reached 20,000 b/d from five wells as work progresses to expand capacity of a processing terminal, reports Cairn Energy PLC.

The field, part of a complex that includes nearby Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields, started up last August and averaged 15,430 b/d in fourth quarter 2009 (OGJ, Sept. 7, 2009, Newsletter).

A 30,000-b/d train is on line at the Mangala Processing Terminal (MPT), which eventually will have four trains with total capacity of 205,000 b/d and room for expansion. Approved plateau production for the complex is 175,000 b/d.

Start-up of two more trains will expand MPT capacity to 125,000 b/d by the end of June.

Production now moves by truck to the Gujarat coast for shipment in heated tankers to refineries operated by Reliance Industries Ltd. and Mangalore Refining & Petrochemicals Ltd.

Cairn India is commissioning a 590-km, 32-in. insulated pipeline between the MPT and Salaya, near RIL’s 660,000-b/d and 580,000-b/d refineries at Jamnagar, heated to keep the crude oil temperature above 65° C.

At Mangala, the company has drilled 45 producing wells, of which 33 have been completed in the Paleocene Fatehgarh formation and are producing or awaiting start-up. Three of the wells are horizontal. The company has been operating two rigs and a completion unit in the Mangala development area and soon will add a third rig.

Cairn also has drilled eight wells in Raageshwari Deep gas field, production from which combines with Mangala associated gas to fuel steam turbine generators at the MPT and heaters for the crude pipeline. The company said one Raageshwari well, Raag-14, tested gas at a field-high rate of 15.7 MMscfd after a hydraulic frac.

Construction is complete on the Raageshwari gas terminal, about 80 km south-southeast of the MPT, and facilities 20 km southeast of the MPT to produce water for secondary recovery.

Cairn has a pilot project testing enhanced recovery with polymer and alkaline-surfactant-polymer injection, which the company estimates might boost recovery from the Mangala complex by 300 million bbl.