By IANS,
New Delhi : Cairn India, part of the British oil explorer Cairn Energy, will start crude oil production from its Mangla oil fields in Barmer, Rajasthan, from the second week this month, a top official said Sunday.
“The company has reached pricing agreements with principal buyers Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals (MRPL),” said Rahul Dhir, chief executive of Cairn India.
Rajasthan, which has the largest onland oilfields in the country, will have a peak output of 8.75 million tonnes crude per annum, contributing one-fifth of the nation’s total output, Dhir said.
“It will save around $6.8 billion foreign exchange per annum which is around 7 percent of the total oil import bill of the country.”
The Barmer oil field has a total production capacity of 205,000 barrel crude oil per day.
Cairn has drilled 28 wells on the Mangala oil field of which 16 have been completed and are ready for production.
The peak output from the field is expected to be 9.5 million tonnes a year (190,000 barrels per day) as against the initial expectation of 175,000 barrels a day.
Dhir said around 10,000 job opportunities have been created in various sectors of the project.
Cairn India reported a net profit of Rs.45.44 crore in the quarter ended June 30 as against Rs.138.58 crore in the like period last fiscal.