Rajasthan oilfields will continue to be the driver for Cairn India in the days to come. While cumulative production from Rajasthan crossed 100 million barrels and generated more than $9 billion in gross revenues till date, Cairn has relinquished a block in the Kerala-Konkan region.
High crude oil prices and increased output from Rajasthan helped the company post a 40 per cent jump in net profit for the first quarter of this fiscal.
Cairn also declared a
“The contractor (Cairn) has completed the minimum work programme in the KK-DWN-2004/1 block committed in phase-I of the exploration period. Post-completion, the contractor has relinquished the block,” it said. There was no discovery in this block.
In a statement, Cairn said that in KG-OSN-2009/3 and MB-DWN-2009/1 blocks, awarded under NELP VIII licensing round, a force majeure was declared because of the denial of Defence clearances for further exploration. In Palar block PR-OSN-2004/1, force majeure was declared following denial of permission to drill in the restricted area by the Department of Space.
“These have been accepted by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. Cairn is in discussions with the Government to resolve the matter,” the company said. Rajasthan crude oil sales arrangements are in place with public sector and private refiners for volumes of over 175,000 barrels of oil a day. The company currently supplies crude to four refineries, including Reliance and Essar.
For the first quarter of the current fiscal, the average oil price realisation for the company stood at $101 a barrel. It made a net foreign exchange gain of Rs 866.3 crore.