The Hindu Business Line : Cairn hires new rig for Cambay asset

New Delhi, July 25 Cairn India has hired a jack up rig from Houston based Scorpion Offshore to maintain production from its fields in the Cambay Basin in Western India.

Cairn expects that the new developments planned for its producing field will ensure that these assets continue to underpin the company’s activities in the country.

Cairn and its joint venture partners in the basin have budgeted close to $100 million for the entire development programme which includes hiring the rig and the drilling programme, sources told Business Line.

The rig is expected to arrive by September. Cairn, which has producing, development, and exploration assets across the country has 40 per cent working interest in block CB/OS-2 in the Cambay Basin and is the operator.

The other partners in the block are ONGC and Tata Petrodyne. The company’s producing Lakshmi and Gauri fields are in the same block.

The CB/OS-2 joint venture is focused on further development of the field with a planned offshore four well infill development drilling programme and also the conversion of three wells into oil producing wells following the continuing success of the Gauri-3, sources said.

The infill development drilling programme is scheduled to commence in second half of 2007.

Engineering studies to upgrade the oil handling facilities at Gauri to 9,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd) have been completed and this upgrade is scheduled for completion in third quarter of 2007.

Production of natural gas from Lakshmi field commenced in 2002 and from the Gauri fields in 2004. While the crude oil production from the fields commenced in 2005.

Average gross production from the Lakshmi and Gauri fields for the first quarter 2007 was 16,997 bopd, comprising average oil and condensate production of 3,555 bopd and average gas production of 81 mmscfd.