Cairn India will invest over Rs 16,000 crore in finding more oil and gas in next three years even as it reported 18 per cent drop in first quarter net profit after record production was neutralised by higher governments share in Rajasthan oil. With Rajasthan output touching 180,000 barrels per day (9 million tonne  a year), the company is now pushing ahead with an integrated development plan for about a dozen finds in the desert block to expedite production ramp up. Cairn India chairman Navin Agarwal told company's annual shareholders meeting in Mumbai that $3 billion investment by 2015-16 will help add 530 million barrels of oil reserves.

 

Of this, Rs 13,000 crore will be in the prolific Rajasthan block alone in drilling 450 wells to raise output. Cairn is on track to raise output to 215,000 bpd by March. Integrated development plan will cut down discovery-to- production time by half. It will help bring to production smaller discoveries quickly without having to go through the rigour of submitting individual field development plans after extensive appraisals. "We have a well-balanced portfolio of exploration, development and producing assets and a clear plan, which will see us aggressively pursue exploration and development opportunities in the months and years ahead," Agarwal said. Separately, Cairn reported that its profit after tax or net profit fell to Rs 3,127 crore, or Rs 12.9 per share, in the June quarter, from Rs 3,826 crore, or Rs 15.1 per share, in the same period a year ago.

 

Government's share of profit from oil produced from Rajasthan block rose from 20 per cent to 30 per cent, the company said in a statement adding it paid Rs 1,054 crore in profit petroleum to the government and another Rs 873 crore in royalty. Also, average oil price realisation dropped to $94.6 per barrel from $101 in Q1 of previous fiscal. Cairn said its flagship Rajasthan block produced a record 173,517 barrels per day, up from 167,146 bpc in April-June 2012. Together with its other producing fields of Ravva and the Cambay, Cairn achieved highest ever output of 212,000 barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas.