New Delhi, Oct. 10: Cairn India today said its average daily gross output fell 9 per cent in the second quarter of this fiscal to 1,94,509 barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas per day (boepd) from 2,13,299boepd in the same quarter last year because of a planned maintenance shutdown at the Rajasthan facilities and a suspension of gas sales from the Ravva block on the eastern coast.

Output from the prolific Rajasthan field dropped 7 per cent during July-September to 1,63,262 barrels per day from 1,75,478bpd a year ago, the company said in a statement.

“At Rajasthan, we successfully completed the planned shutdown announced in the first quarter of the fiscal, for routine operational and statutory maintenance activity at the Mangala Processing Terminal, which resulted in lower production of 1,63,262bpd,” it said.

Cairn said output was back to normal levels in the current quarter. “We are back to normal production levels at Rajasthan after the shutdown; excluding the shutdown period, second-quarter production was comparable to the first quarter. We also utilised this opportunity to tie-in new facility enhancements related to development projects,” the statement added.

Cairn produced 2,04,128 barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas from all its fields in the country in the second quarter, down 8 per cent from 2,21,190boepd in the corresponding period a year ago.

“At Ravva, gas sales have been suspended since July 4 on account of one of the customers undertaking a major unplanned maintenance activity within their Andhra Pradesh pipeline network. Hence, production from Ravva was lower during the quarter despite a positive oil contribution from the 4D infill well campaign,” the statement added.

From Ravva, the average daily gross output was 29 per cent lower during the quarter at 20,596boepd compared with 29,151boepd a year ago.

At Cambay, production increased 23 per cent to 10,651boepd during the second quarter on account of successful well-intervention measures. The Vedanta Group company said overall output was down 3 per cent in the first half of this fiscal at 215,301boepd. Rajasthan production slipped 1 per cent to 173,158boepd, while Ravva output was down 22 per cent at 22,259boepd.

Cairn holds 70 per cent interest in the Rajasthan block, while the remaining 30 per cent is with state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation.

It holds 22.5 per cent in the offshore Ravva fields; ONGC holds 40 per cent, while Petrocon India and Singapore-based Ravva Oil have 25 per cent and 12.5 per cent stakes, respectively.