Cairn finds more oil/gas in Rajasthan

Cairn India today announced two new oil and gas discoveries in its prolific Rajasthan block, and said it has received a six-month extension from the government for further exploration in the northern region of the block.

The discoveries were made in Kameshwari West-2 and Kameshwari West-3 wells, the company said in a press release here.

The stock was trading with a gain of 1% at Rs 130 on the BSE around 1145 hrs.

The Kameshwari West-2 discovery, located 12 km north west of the 2003 Kameshwari discovery and 56 km south of the giant Mangala field, encountered 18.2 metre of net oil pay.

The Kameshwari West-3 discovery is located 10.6 km to the north of Kameshwari West-2 and encountered up to 16 metre of gas pay. Two DSTs were conducted and test results in the upper interval confirmed the presence of a gas pool, which flowed at approximately 75,000 standard cubic feet per day.

The release further said that the government has awarded the company a six-month extension to the exploration phase of the Northern Appraisal Area (NAA) of the Rajasthan licence RJ-ON-90/1 from May 2007.

"The extension will allow the company to carry out an appraisal programme to delineate and explore the full potential of the Northern Appraisal Area (NAA), which covers an area of 879 square kilometres. These discoveries have opened up a new play in the lower Dharvi Dungar sands on the western margin of the Rajasthan basin," the release said.

Rahul Dhir, chief executive officer, Cairn India said: "Cairn India is delighted to have secured this extension in order to further evaluate the potential of this area. The two discoveries confirm our belief that the Rajasthan basin is world-class and will continue to add incremental value."