Cairn India is keen to tap the full productivity potential of its Ravva oil field, located off the Andhra coast, within the Krishna-Godavari basin block. According to sources associated with the development, there is immense potential which has been bypassed in the field and efforts are underway to carry out sub-surface studies to identify these additional resources.
Around 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day of hydrocarbon comes from the east coast field and the producing assets at Ravva are now in the off-peak plateau production phase. The Ravva field, rated as one of the top 25 shallow water fields in the world, has performed better than expected, with higher than forecast production and low operating costs. Three oil and gas discoveries were made during a recent drilling campaign in the block, 3.6 million barrels of oil equivalent being the best estimate contingent resources.
A recent modeling study indicated that the Ravva field is ideal for time-lapse (4D) seismic acquisition. These studies are intended to help find oil that has been un-drained by the current recovery scheme or new prospects in the Ravva area. Cairn is actively considering deploying this new technology to try and maintain the crude oil plateau rate of the Ravva field, sources said.
Cairn and the Ravva JV have paid over $4.6 billion in the form of profit petroleum, royalty & cess to Centre from an investment of just over $1 billion in the last decade. The Ravva field has generated more than $9 billion for Cairn and its JVpartners.
Earlier this year Cairn had laid a 14-inch pipeline from the RD platform to the Ravva terminal, leading to an increase in total liquid production of 4,500 barrels per day. A 4D seismic analysis is scheduled to be launched in the block later this year. Cairn is also operationalising three more sub-sea pipelines in the field and these pipelines are expected to solve capacity bottlenecks and aid production in the pioneering Andhra offshore block. The E&P firm has plans to install a gas lift support in the discovered reservoirs of Ravva with a view to add incremental reserves. The company will develop these reservoirs through drilling campaigns planned over the extended years.
Since Cairn?s major find in Rajasthan is slated to come into production shortly, the performance of Ravva may play a major role in the company?s performance in the medium run. Ravva has been a major JV oil field, with one of the lowest operating costs in the world. Cairn is the operator and has a 22.5% participating interest in the Ravva field. ONGC carries a 40% stake and Videocon has a 25% PI, while Marubeni-owned Ravva Oil (Singapore) owns a further 12.5% stake in the field.
Till date, Cairn has produced more than 270 million barrels of oil from the Ravva block, which was initially expected to produce 100 million barrels. Studies undertaken by Cairn are also underway to explore the potential of several cretaceous formations at Ravva.