Cairn keen to boost India output

23rd Mar 2010 07:09

Cairn Energy has raised its forecast for peak production from its Indian assets by over a third to 240,000 barrels per day."The phased Rajasthan development is set to produce 125,000 bopd later this year with multiple buyers now lining up to take crude through the pipeline. The basin resource base continues to grow and has the potential to take production up to 240,000 bopd," chief executive Bill Gammell said."The current Government of India approved plateau production level for the MBA fields is 175,000 barrels of oil per day. Our goal is to demonstrate that the resource base can support potential production up to 240,000 bopd," it added.Discovered in place resource in India has also increased from 3.7bn boe to 4bn barrels. The exploration potential is also now higher with the prospective in place resource estimated at 2.5bn barrels. Overall, the block total potential is now 6.5bn barrels.In Greenland, a four well frontier exploration programme commences in 2010. "The growth in India has enabled the company to position itself as an early entrant in frontier acreage in Greenland," Gammell added.The four wells will be drilled in Baffin Bay and Cairn estimates these areas could contain 4.1bn barrels of oil."It is Cairn's belief that Greenland, as part of the North Atlantic geological province, has hydrocarbons present in its offshore basins; however, it will take stamina, skill and indeed luck to find them," Gammell said.The group posted net losses for 2009 of $60.7m against a profit of $440.0m on revenues of $170m, down from $299m. Profit after tax and before exceptional items was $52.7m (2008: $10.9m). Output rose to 77,222 barrels daily (2008: 76,298 boepd) with average net entitlement production of 20,307 barrels(2008: 12,801 boepd).