Cairn India aims to hike crude oil production to 500,000 bpd

Cairn India aims to hike crude oil production to 500,000 bpd Anil Agarwal-promoted Cairn India Ltd aims to hike its crude oil output from current 175,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 500,000 bpd, or 25 million tones per year, in the next few years.

Cairn India, which was acquired by Vedanta Group following several regulatory obstacles, has already invested Rs 180 billion ($3.31bn) to boost production of crude oil in the country. For the next financial year that starts April 1, it has plans to invest another Rs 60 billion.

Speaking on the sidelines of an event to mark the commencement of gas sales from the company's Rajasthan block, Mr. Agarwal said, "We are looking at producing 5 lakh bpd of crude in the next few years as we have enough oil in the ground. We are targetting 3 lakh bpd of crude (in the near future)."

Cairn India on Saturday started producing natural gas from its Rajasthan block, which also accounts for the bulk of the company's oil production.

Other fields operated by the Vedanta group company include the Mangala, Bhagyam and Saraswati fields. It also operates the Raageshwari gas field from where it announced on Saturday the company's first-ever commercial sale of about 5 million standard cubic feet of gas, at $5 million British thermal unit.

In the Rajasthan block, Cairn India owns a 70 per cent stake; while its partner state-run Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) holds the remainder.

The company has so far made a total of 25 discoveries in the Rajasthan block and pegged its potential at nearly 7.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent. It has plans to drill one hundred exploration & appraisal wells at an investment of Rs 3,000 crore.