Cairn scrambles to meet DGH screening deadline

Cairn Oil & Gas is racing to meet the DGH's April 9 (2020) deadline to submit an Enhanced Recovery (ER) screening report for its Aishwariya-Barmer Hill field at RJ-ON-90/1, currently producing around 5000 b/d.

In December Cairn floated a 'limited' tender for the 15-sq km field in line with an October 2018 DGH policy to make ER screening mandatory for all fields in production for more than three years. On October 9 (2019) the DGH extended the ER screening report deadline by six months to April 9 (2020).

Cairn wants a consultant to perform ER evaluation using different types of chemical "flooding’ that can improve oil recovery and reverse decline. Whoever wins must complete work within 75 days from the date of award: the DGH states it will not tolerate "delays beyond the April 9 (2020) deadline."

Aishwariya Barmer Hill sits in the northern part of the Barmer basin at RJ-ON-90/1 and holds up to 400m barrels of (estimated) in-place oil. Peak Barmer Hill oil production is expected to be about 15-20,000 b/d while total gas production from Aishwariya-Barmer Hill is expected to be 708,000 cm/d (25m cf/d), according to a November 5 (2018) Final Environmental Impact Assessment.