Cairn to launch world's largest oil recovery project in Rajasthan

Barmer, Dec 13: Oil and gas major Cairn India is to launch the world’s largest enhanced oil recovery programme in the Rajasthan desert using polymer injection technology for recovering more oil at its processing termil near here. The Mangala processing termil in Barmer district, which laid the foundation of Cairn India’s “Rajasthan Project” and transformed the company with the discovery of its first oil well Mangala-1, in 2004, is now home to Cairn’s new polymer injection facility where new cutting-edge technology Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) has been introduced to maximise the potential. The world’s largest oil well discovered in 2004, Mangala-1 was the company’s first discovery after many 3D seismic explorations.

“It was in the sandy undulations of the Thar desert almost two decades ago that the company’s convention-shattering exploration efforts proved successful on the 14th attempt,” said Cairn India director Suniti Bhat.

He said the breakthrough gave birth to the “Rajasthan Project” — a vision that has stood the test of time and has been an ebler in bringing India a step closer to energy security.

Explaining the new EOR programme, he said polymer flood or addition of polymers to water, used particularly in older and declining oil wells and reservoirs, ebles better displacement of oil and improves the recovery factor. The successful polymer flood pilot project in Mangala produced incremental oil of nearly 11 percent. The company’s Central Polymer Facility (CPF) will, by end of the current fiscal, cover the entire Mangala field spread over 3,111 sq. km. west of Barmer town. (IANS)