PM to open Cairn Barmer facility on Saturday

Peak output of 175,000 barrels per day (8.75 million tonnes) will account for close to 25 per cent of India’s current oil production. Experts believe that the output may climb to at least 205,000 bpd (10.25 million tonnes) also.

Cairn said it plans to pump 30,000 bpd initially. Mangala is the biggest oil discovery made in India in more than two decades after the Gandhar find in Gujarat by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). Rajasthan oilfields will cut India’s oil import cost by US$6.8 billion or seven per cent, Goldman Sachs said.

Cairn said it will initially truck the crude oil to refiners and hopes to complete a pipeline to Gujarat coast by the year end.  It said that negotiations on price for the initial offtake of Rajasthan crude have been concluded with the government of India nominees — Indian Oil Corp (IOC) and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd. The price agreed currently represents a 10 to 15 per cent discount to Brent.

The first processing train of 30,000 bpd capacity is ready and the second unit will be ready by the fourth quarter of 2009.