New Delhi, March 9: Cairn Energy of the UK has struck more oil in Barmer district of Rajasthan. The new discovery (NA1) is expected to yield 0.5 million tonnes of oil per year. It is situated 8 km south of the Mangala field discovered in January this year. This is the seventh hydrocarbon discovery by the UK company in Rajasthan.

Cairn Energy has informed the petroleum ministry that the new discovery is about one-third the size of the Mangala discovery. While the recoverable reserves of the Mangala field have been estimated between the 50 million-barrel and 200 million-barrel range, those of the new discovery have been put in the 20-70 million-barrel range.

The company plans to drill four appraisal wells at Mangala by June and two or three at NA1, the new discovery, to get a clearer picture about the commercial prospects of these fields and assess their reservoir distribution.

Cairn Energy chief executive Bill Gammel is reported to have told newspersons in London that “people will start to look more closely at India”.

The comment assumes significance as Shell had actually given up the Rajasthan exploration block when they had failed to strike oil.

The company has stated that the NA1 well also encountered a log evaluated oil bearing column of 60 to 150 metres in an apparently tight, silty Barmer Hill formation. The Barmer Hill section is a possible future candidate for further evaluation.

The well encountered a gross oil column of 120 metres and a net pay of 15 metres in excellent quality sands of the Fategarh formation in the Thar desert. Preliminary testing results show oil flow at the rate of 1,220 barrels per day.

The discoveries made by Cairn Energy have catapulted Rajasthan into the third spot after Gujarat and Assam in terms of oil wealth. While the fields are small or medium in size, they are expected to boost the economy of the desert-state and have also improved the prospects of finding more oil.

The earlier discoveries made by Cairn in the same exploration block in Rajasthan are Kameshwari, Raggeshwari and GR-F, all discovered in 2003. While a second well has been drilled for appraising the Kameshwari field, another two have been drilled for appraising Raggeshwari.

Saraswati is another oil discovery made in 2002, which has been followed up by two more appraisal wells for further development. The Guda field was discovered in 1998 and this may extend further to the successfully tested GR-F to form a bigger field, the company has informed the petroleum ministry.