Leveraging Mangala EOR to maximise domestic production

Leveraging the latest technologies has been the prime mover behind Cairn India Limited’s contribution to domestic oil production. The company operates ~27% of India's domestic crude oil production and has yet again proven it’s technological capabilities as Mangala oilfield in Rajasthan crosses the mark of 300 million bbls of cumulative production.

Mangala along with the Bhagyam, Aishwariya and Raageshwari oil and gas fields make up the Rajasthan block, where Cairn India’s ambitious enhanced oil recovery (EOR) programme, the world’s largest Polymer EOR project, is being implemented to help arrest natural decline and maintain production. Cairn India’s use of the best of technologies and the lowest Capex in the world has defined the company’s character of business since the very beginning. This has had a significant bearing on the company’s profitability and financial resilience.

In alignment with the Prime Minister’s vision, Cairn India’s operations have also helped reduce India’s import bill by over INR 210 billion as well as contribute over INR 100 billion to the government exchequer, credit to its robust production backed by technological innovation.

Being a pioneer in technology application in the Indian oil and gas space, Cairn India’s focus on technology has yielded exemplary results in extending the life of Rajasthan’s mature oil assets.

Cairn India launched the first polymer injection at Mangala in 2014. By end of FY15, the company had ramped up its polymer injection rate and completed the Mangala Alkaline Surfactant Polymer (ASP) pilot successfully. Through the use of alkali and surfactant chemicals, injected water acts almost as soap, helping to wash more oil off the reservoir rock surface, resulting in increased displacement efficiency.

The Mangala EOR contributed an average of 42 000 bbls of additional oil per day (bopd) during the last quarter; up by 31% (QoQ), according to its Q1 FY17 result. Excellent performance by Mangala EOR and encouraging upside from Aishwariya infill program have continued to assert the potential of Cairn India’s Rajasthan block.

EOR is a term for special techniques to increase the amount of crude oil that can be extracted from a field, over and above conventional primary depletion or basic waterflooding which typically will recover 20 - 40% of the stock tank oil initially in place (STOIIP). Using typical EOR methods, an additional 10 - 20% of STOIIP can be extracted from a field.

EOR through polymer flooding is used for improving oil recovery - particularly in older and declining oil wells and reservoirs. The addition of polymers to water allows a better displacement of oil and improves the recovery factor.

The importance of EOR for the Mangala field (and subsequently for Bhagyam and Aishwariya) was realised soon after its discovery in 2004. The field is expected to produce around 35% of STOIIP over 30 years of conventional waterflood operations. Successful completion of ASP pilot would open ways to further improve the recovery.

The MBA field with 2.2 billion bbls of hydrocarbons in place, are the key pillars of the company’s strong fundamentals in the region.

Cairn India has a portfolio of eight blocks – one block in Rajasthan, two on the west coast, four on the east coast of India, and one in South Africa. Oil and gas is currently being produced from Barmer, Ravva and Cambay. The Mangala field discovered in January 2004, is the largest onshore oil discovery in India in more than two decades.

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