Cairn India to drill 14 wells in 3 blocks by Sept-end

Cairn Energy India Pty. Ltd., a subsidiary of Cairn India Ltd., plans to drill up to 14 wells in three offshore blocks on the west and east coasts of India by September. Cairn, the operator in these three blocks, is planning to conduct drilling campaigns in these three blocks during Q3 (July-September) 2010. CB-OS/2 (in Cambay Basin) and Ravva (in Krishna-Godavari Basin) are producing blocks while the Palar block is an exploratory one. Cairn holds 40% operating interest in the Cambay Basin block, while Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) holds 50% interest and Tata Petrodyne owns the remaining 10%. The UK-based company plans to drill two firm wells in this block and another optional well during July-September. On January 28, Cairn had said that average gross production from the CB/OS-2 block during October-December 2009 stood at 12,744 barrels per day of oil equivalent, including 8,998 barrels of oil and condensate and average gas production of 22.48 million cu ft per day. In Ravva, Cairn plans to drill six wells and two optional wells. Cairn holds 22.5% operating interest in the Ravva block. ONGC owns 40% interest, Videocon Industries 25% and Ravva Oil (Singapore) 12.5% stake. Average gross production from the Ravva field during October-December 2009 stood at 38,668 barrels of oil equivalent daily, comprising 30,957 barrels of oil and 46.26mn cu ft of gas daily.