Cairn India Ltd. plans to invest $2 billion during the next 2 years, including $600 million for exploration in Rajasthan, India, where it has raised expectations for its block under development to 300,000 b/d.
Navin Agarwal, Cairn India chairman, reported at the company’s annual meeting an 11% increase in the resource estimate for the Rajasthan block to 7.3 billion boe in place.
Production from the block has reached the approved rate of 175,000 b/d, Agarwal said.
“This was made possible because we got requisite approval for higher crude offtake from the Mangala field and the commencement of production from the Bhagyam, Raageshwari, and Saraswati fields,” he said.
A pilot polymer flood of Mangala field was successful, he said, adding, “We have initiated the process to realize the full enhanced oil recovery potential.”
Engineers India Ltd., New Delhi, earlier this month said Cairn India had awarded it a front-end engineering and design contract for the Mangala polymer project. The contract covers additional surface facilities for 15 existing well pads with associated pipelines and infrastructure.
Oil from the block flows through a 366-mile, heated and insulated pipeline to Salaya, Gujarat.
Agarwal said Cairn India has identified more than 100 exploratory prospects and leads on the Rajasthan block. The company also has discovered natural gas and will “bring that into production as quickly as possible,” he said.
In addition to the Rajasthan project, Cairn India has interests in oil and gas production in India’s Krishna-Godavari and Cambay basins. It also has reported oil and gas discoveries offshore Sri Lanka and recently farmed in to an exploratory block offshore South Africa.
