Cairn India to invest Rs 7500cr to produce 1,50,000 barrels a day

Visakhapatnam, Nov 26 (UNI) Aiming to increase its production capacity to 1,50,000 barrels a day by 2010, oil exploration firm Cairn India today said it along with partners including ONGC, will pump in Rs 7,500 crore for oil production and exploration in Rajasthan and Ravva fields.

The company will also infuse Rs 400 crore in Ravva field in the next nine months.

''We will invest a sum of Rs 6,800 crore by 2009 on acquisition of assets and development of infrastructure to increase our production capacity in Rajasthan. The company would allocate Rs 400 crore in the next nine months for its upcoming Ravva plant in Andhra Pradesh for drilling of new oil wells,'' Cairn India Group Communication Director David Nisbet told reporters here.

In order to sustain 50,000 barrels a day, Rs 270 crore will be invested in the drilling of four oil wells in Cambay Basin near Ravva region by the end of 2007, he said.

It has already invested over Rs 300 crore into the plant, spread over 221 acres of land.

The company has 70 per cent stake in the Rajasthan field while the remaining is owned by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC).

Likewise, it has 22.5 per cent stake of Ravva field, besides ONGC (40 per cent), Videocon (25 per cent) and Ravva Oil (Singapore) Pte Ltd (12.5 per cent).

Terming India as an unexplored destination for oil and gas reserves, Mr Nisbet said that the company, having received final approval from the government for the first four field development plans (FDPs) at Mangala, Aishwariya, Saraswati and Rageshwari fields in Rajasthan, expects to support its existing operations and growth plans with the proposed two-billion-dollar IPO floation.

Over 90 per cent of the reserves (proven and probable) of United Kingdom's Cairn Energy Plc are in India.

Last year, Cairn India, in contract with Ravva and Rajasthan till 2019 and 2021 respectively, posted a turnover of Rs 5,400 crore.

UNI SBA CS KP1329