Crude production in Rajasthan to start in a few days: Cairn

Cairn India will begin production of crude from its Rajasthan fields in a "few days", Rahul Dhir, managing director and CEO of the company said.

"Train One with a capacity of 30,000 barrels of oil per day at the Mangala processing terminal has been successfully completed and is ready to commence production," Dhir said after the company's third annual general meeting (AGM).
 
The first oil from the Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya (MBA) fields will begin this month itself, he said.

The crude oil pipeline is targeted to be completed by the end of 2009 and until then the crude will be evacuated by trucks to the Gujarat coast to be shipped to two of the buyers nominated by the government, namely MRPL and HPCL.

Cairn, he said, has received government approval for the revised Mangala field development plan, incorporating an increased offtake of 125,000 barrels of oil per day for Mangala and a processing capacity of 205,000 barrels of oil per day for the Mangala processing terminal.

The construction of Trains two and three at the MPT with a combined capacity of 100,000 barrels of oil per day is targeted to attain the Mangala plateau production of 125,000 barrels of oil per day in the first half of 2010.

The pipeline continues to make progress. Teams are working in Rajasthan and Gujarat to meet the target of completion by the end of the year while pre-commissioning and testing activities have already commenced on the pipeline.