The Hindu Business Line : Cairn India posts consolidated net profit of Rs 37.56 cr in Q1

The company's (consolidated) total income stood at Rs 272.55 crore for the first quarter (January-March) of 2007. The quarter under review was the first operational quarter for the new company, Cairn India Ltd, which was recently listed in the stock exchange.

The company's stock, which opened at Rs 139.90 on the BSE on Friday, touched a low of Rs 133, before closing at Rs 134.25. In a statement the company said that average price realisation for the oil it produces in Ravva offshore field was $61.04 per barrel, while average gas price realisation for its fields in eastern and western offshore was $4.07 per thousand cubic feet.

Mr Rahul Dhir, Chief Executive of Cairn India, said, "Cairn India remains focused on driving forward the Rajasthan development to bring new production onstream, while maximising the production potential from existing assets, enabling increased exploration activity and ensuring the Rajasthan upstream project remains on track to produce first oil in 2009."

Cairn said it was in discussions for laying a pipeline to transport the Rajasthan crude and awaiting Government approval to include a pipeline within the Field Development Plan. "The proposed routing of the pipeline will allow access to the existing pipeline infrastructure and refinery network, with a final coastal delivery point that also affords access to the majority of India's refining capacity," a company statement said.

Cairn has made 20 discoveries in its Rajasthan block, RJ-ON-90/1. Cairn India's oil and gas fields at Ravva and CB/OS-2 continue to be the cornerstone of its existing production, the company said.

During 2006, both these assets benefited from revised gas prices and improved oil production.

An ongoing drilling programme at Ravva and new developments planned on CB/OS-2 will ensure that these assets continue to underpin Cairn's India's activities elsewhere in India, the statement said.

The step change in production is expected from 2009, when the first of the Rajasthan developments is scheduled to come onstream, the company said adding that the Mangala field will be brought on production first followed by the Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields and the targeted gross production from these three fields is 1,50,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd).

Cairn India said it has recently secured two new exploration blocks in the NELP VI licensing round and now holds interests in a total of 15 blocks in India.