Cairn India Ltd. and state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp. have started oil production from the third field at their Mangala-Bhagyam-Aishwariya (MBA) complex in Rajasthan, India, and commenced natural gas sales from the block.
The government of Rajasthan and state-owned Hindustan Petroleum Corp. Ltd. recently signed a memorandum of understanding to develop a refinery and petrochemical complex at nearby Barmer (OGJ Online, Mar. 14, 2013). Since then, HCPL has reported the planned refinery capacity as 9 million tonnes/year.
The new production start is at Aishwariya field, for which a production rate of 10,000 b/d of oil has been approved. The MBA complex is producing about 175,000 b/d.
Gas sales from the block began at the rate of 5 MMscfd.
The block has been producing about 30 MMscfd from Raageshwari Deep Gas field and in association with oil from Mangala and Bhagyam fields. Until sales began, the gas was used to meet requirements of the Mangala processing terminal and the 590-km heated pipeline that carries crude from the fields to Salaya.
Cairn, with 70% interest, and ONGC, 30%, are the operating committee for Block RJ-ON-901.