Cairn India makes oil and gas discovery

Cairn India Ltd has announced that it has made an oil and gas discovery adjacent to the Raageshwari oilfield in its Rajasthan block. The discovery is located approximately 1.5 km east of the Raageshwari 1well in the southern part of the Mangala, Aishwariya Raageshwari and Saraswati development area.The adjacent Raageshwari field is commercial and has an approved field development plan. The well was spudded on 21 November and reached total depth (TD) on 24 November. A Cairn release said the well encountered approximately 10 metres (m)of net oil pay from a gross column of 81m in sands in the Thumbli formation below 1,425m. The open hole drill stem test flowed 40 degree API oil at a stabilised rate of 500 barrels of oil per day plus 0.4 mmscfd gas on 64/64’’ choke from a 4m Net pay interval in the Upper Thumbli Sand. In addition 1.4m of gas pay was identified in the Akli formation at 1247.8m MDBRT (1153.03m TVDSS).Rahul Dhir, chief executive officer of Cairn India, said, “The success of this well on the eastern flank of the Raageshwari structure extends the productive reservoir in a new trapping style and proved a deeper oil column. The well also demonstrates the potential for the addition of incremental reserves from the areas around the discoveries already made in the licence. Future work on the Raageshwari East 1/1Z discovery includes field studies to determine the extent of the discovery as well as evaluate cost effective development options.” Cairn India is currently focused on exploration and production in India where it has a working interest in 14 blocks, two of which are producing hydrocarbons.