04 February,2009 06:08 PM IST | | PTI
Cairn India will invest $3.8 billion in oilfields in Rajasthan and laying a pipeline to transport the crude oil that will begin flowing in less than eight months from now.
The company, along with its 30 per cent partner state-owned ONGC, will invest about $2.9 billion in developing the Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya (MBA) fields, the first three of the 25 discoveries in the Rajasthan block that are being put to production in the first phase.
Another $940 million will be invested in laying a pipeline from Barmer district to the Gujarat coast for transporting the crude oil.
In 2005 $1.5-1.8 billion was envisaged to be invested in MBA field development to produce a peak output of $1,25,000 barrels per day of crude oil.
The production estimate has since gone up to 1,75,000 bpd, resulting in the revised cost, said an official of Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC).
The hike in cost was on account of increase in facilities to be constructed, rise in equipment cost, and more drilling charges and manpower cost, he said.
