Cairn India seeks JV partner to boost oil production

Cairn India seeks JV partner to boost oil production

Cairn India is looking to boost oil production in India to 500,000 barrels per day from 100,000 bpd within the next six to seven years with the help of a joint venture partner, the company's head of exploration said on Tuesday.

Sam Algar, speaking at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston, said deepwater opportunities will allow the company to easily reach that goal, while also calling for additional partnerships.

India's largest private oil and gas exploration and production company is drilling deepwater exploration wells next year, which it plans to develop rapidly to meet the country's growing demand, Algar said on the sidelines of the conference.

"There are four wells being drilled on the block and all of them are discoveries. We'd hope to have that on stream by 2028, so that could get us off half the way to the 500,000-bpd target," he said.

Algar said the company also intended to drill its first exploratory shale well in Rajasthan in northwestern India, where the company already operates, in a couple of months.

The shale well will go down around 5,000 meters (16,404 ft) and is adjacent to an existing natural gas pipeline, he said.

If the shale well does not come online quickly, the company can focus on its deepwater projects and bring them online before 2028, he said, adding it is aiming to achieve 500,000 bpd within five years.

Cairn has secured a rig for twelve months for the shale project, Algar added.