Cairn Energy board visits Barmer, reviews work

The board of Cairn Energy PLC, the company which has made 18 oil and gas discoveries in Rajasthan, paid a visit to Barmer yesterday to see the company's operations and visit community projects.

Cairn Energy PLC Chairman Norman Murray, along with other members of the board, visited the S-1 location of the Saraswati discovery and the government upper primary school in Sada Jhund village "" both situated in the southern part of the Barmer basin.

Saraswati and the company's Mangala Aishwariya and Raageshwari finds have already got the approval of the government.

The board visited the S-1 site to see the progress of the preparations for the first stage of oil production from the Rajasthan block. Saraswati will be a part of the early small-scale production from Cairn discoveries in Rajasthan, which will amount to 2,000-3,000 barrels of oil per day.

The southern part of the block will start production in the next six months. Large-scale production will come from Mangala, the biggest oil discovery in the country since 1985, from 2009. Peak production from Mangala and the other northern Rajasthan fields is expected to be 140,000-150,000 barrels of oil per day.

Cairn has earmarked $1 billion for the development of Mangala and associated fields. During their day-long visit to Rajasthan, the board members also visited community projects where Cairn is providing support to the educational set-up in the area.

The government upper primary school in the Sada Jhund village has been upgraded and is now the stage of a Theatre in Education project aimed at increasing the students' awareness of the local environment.