Cairn India employs an entrepreneurial strategy of using appropriate leading edge technology to search for commercial hydrocarbons by drilling high risk but high reward wells on prospective structures in and around India. Cairn is an established major long term exploration player in India with an enviable track record of successful oil and gas exploration including more than 40 discoveries in the last 10 years, building an acknowledged exploration success ratio that exceeds 50%. As a result, Cairn India boasts an extensive resource base across 10 blocks in India and is the operator of the first licensed acreage in Sri Lanka.

1. E x p l o r at i o n E x c E l l E n c E f r o m f r o n t i E r s t o m at u r E B a s i n s cairn india limited
from Frontiers to Mature Basins
Exploration Excellence
Energy for India

2. 2
E x p l o r at i o n E x c E l l E n c E f r o m f r o n t i E r s t o m at u r E B a s i n s
cairn india employs an entrepreneurial an enviable track record of successful
strategy of using appropriate leading- oil and gas exploration including more
edge technology to search for than 40 discoveries in the last 10 years,
commercial hydrocarbons by drilling building an acknowledged exploration
high risk but high reward wells on success ratio that exceeds 50%. as a
prospective structures in and around result, cairn india boasts an extensive
india. the key tools used by the resource base across 10 blocks in india
company are seismic data, including and is the operator of the first licenced
novel acquisition, processing and acreage in sri lanka.
interpretation, integrated geological
evaluation, basin modelling to predict underlying this exploration success is
hydrocarbon generation, migration and the belief in “drill bit exploration”; the
charge distribution, and petrophysical company has drilled 181 exploratory
evaluation of well data. the company and appraisal wells versus 56 obligation
invests extensively in developing wells in 10 years resulting in more than
high quality in house technical 25 discoveries made so far in rajasthan,
capabilities, buidling expert knowledge providing oil in place of 3.6bn barrels
and implementing new technology. of oil equivalent (boe). indeed, 3 of the
additionally, cairn has a sharp 7 landmark discoveries made in india
focus on the best Health, safety and since 2000 have been made by cairn.
Environmental (HsE) practice, ensuring
the safety of employees, the integrity
of the business, and the environment in
which we work.
cairn is an established major long
term exploration player in india with
cairn india limited
purpose-built, mobile, low cost drilling rig HsE in action, safely shooting land seismic
exploring in the desert of rajasthan with the acquisition-explosives team and flag man

3. 3
E x p l o r at i o n E x c E l l E n c E f r o m f r o n t i E r s t o m at u r E B a s i n s
cairn india limited
cairn india Exploration portfolio and producing assets
(mB-DWn-2009/1 and KG-osn-2009/3 provisionaly awarded under nElp Viii)

4. 4
E x p l o r at i o n E x c E l l E n c E f r o m f r o n t i E r s t o m at u r E B a s i n s
in January 2004, cairn discovered
the largest onshore oil field in india
since 1985 – the mangala field in
rajasthan followed by the Bhagyam and
aishwariya oil fields. these three fields
have a combined oil in place of more that
2 billion boe.
Exploration is inherently associated with
risk and uncertainty. Determining the
probability of success of an exploration
well is based on a comprehensive
understanding of the petroleum system
in the basin and the associated geological
risk. in the first instance, access to regional
proprietry databases and high resolution
seismic has been a significant factor in cairn india exploration acreage in rajasthan
cairns success story. over the years cairn overlain on high resolution gravity anomaly
has invested in georeferenced regional data. regional faults shown in white
gravity, magnetic and seismic data sets,
and has used these to create regional
models of basin distribution and evolution
through time. these databases are
calibrated to local data acquired by cairn
india and used as a front-end exploration
screening tool and linked to plate tectonic
reconstructions of basin evolution.
the company’s knowledge of depth to
basement across all the key petroleum
basins in india and of basin fill evolution is
unrivalled in india.
similarly, our investment at the basin
scale in seismic imaging and optimised
seismic acquisition and processing
parameterisation has provided world an image from a regional exploration tool
class subsurface imaging. High resolution unique to cairn india-showing integrated
gravity-magnetic-modelled depth to basement
seismic, combined with appropriate imaging of basin distribution. Basin in blue
coring and reservoir description provides colour, basement in red and yellow
cairn india limited
our subsurface teams with the ability

5. 5
E x p l o r at i o n E x c E l l E n c E f r o m f r o n t i E r s t o m at u r E B a s i n s
to generate high resolution, calibrated deltaic deposits. Emerging plays in the
models of depositional facies, source rock Barmer Basin include stratigraphic traps
distribution and seal properties. cairn in post-rift sequences and deep water
india has a current portfolio that includes a depositional systems in the KG basin and
diversity of basins, plays and depositional sri lanka. the overall exploration strategy
environments.Exploration activity across is to maximise resource additions from
the spread of frontier to proven, mature key assets with a focus on high impact
basins provides a balanced risk in the exploration.
portfolio with significant upside but
manifold opportunities in basins that are With 10 existing blocks, a growing
understood well. this is particularly the portfolio including 2 new nElp Viii
case in the Barmer Basin of rajasthan provisional awards (subject to the
where advanced basin analysis ministry of petroleum and natural Gas
techniques have revealed several new approval), cairn india explores across
unexplored plays in an extensional a range of operating environments
rift basin with more than 25 existing (onshore to deep water) and has
discoveries. our historical exploration established a remarkable track record
efforts have developed considerable of success. our current major activities
expertise in rift basins with lacustrine include 1450 km2 of deep water 3D
sources and syn-rift reservoirs and passive seismic acquisition in sri lanka leading
extensional margins with marine and to drilling of 3 exploratory wells in 2011,
w
3D interpretation of an exploration prospect with integrated a
t
reflection seismic and coherence volume
cairn india limited
e
r

6. 6
E x p l o r at i o n E x c E l l E n c E f r o m f r o n t i E r s t o m at u r E B a s i n s
Seal
Breached
Reservoir
Migration
Pathway
‘the prize’-high quality sandstone reservoir (top, thin section,
middle, scanning electron micrograph) showing intergramular
porosity. Bottom: cairn india is a trend setter in the novel use
of fluid inclusions to identify petroleum systems and (left ) fluid
inclusions stratigraphy to interpret migration pathways and
breached palaeo structures in dry wells
cairn india limited

7. 7
E x p l o r at i o n E x c E l l E n c E f r o m f r o n t i E r s t o m at u r E B a s i n s
integration: from seismic to core sample to 3D immersive
visualisation, integration of critical data is characteristic of cairn
india’s exploration philosophy
800 km2 of 3D seismic acquisition and drilling of 3
exploratory wells in the palar block, a 5 well onshore
exploration programme in the KG basin, and a rolling
programme of onshore seismic acquisition and well
drilling in rajasthan.
to explore for hydrocarbons effectively, cairn
india embeds regional high resolution prediction
of hydrocarbon phase and volume distribution in
prospects from basin models, incorporating geological
risks in the play, as a routine integrated part of its
exploration activity. these models are based on an
understanding of basin evolution and heat flow,
stratigraphy and facies distributions. the models are
calibrated with temperature data from wells, including
palaeo-geothermometers, and a unique hydrocarbon
shows database which includes present day and
palaeo-hydrocarbon distributions from fluid inclusion
stratigraphy.
in many areas, particularly frontier basins, the data
required to construct and calibrate models are scarce,
and may have large inherent uncertainties. thus,
it is essential that basin modeling allows simulation
cairn india limited

8. 8
E x p l o r at i o n E x c E l l E n c E f r o m f r o n t i E r s t o m at u r E B a s i n s
early stage of its exploration project life
cycle that capture the critical aspects
of the geological system, runs multiple
simulations, and incorporates results as
probabilities into prospect evaluation.
as an exploration area matures, more
complex and ‘deterministic’ models
can be constructed and calibrated to
thermal, stratigraphical, geochemical
and rock property data, as exemplified
by our exploration success in the Barmer
Basin of rajasthan.
in all cases, basin models are incomplete
representations of the sub-surface,
dependent upon the limited available
Gis-based depositional environment map inputs (minute in terms of basin
showing facies distribution used as an input for volume), inadequacies of the numerical
basin modelling
simulator used and the time available for
of multiple ‘scenarios’ to ask ‘What model building. confidence in model
if?’ questions, for investigating the predictions arises from the stability of
sensitivity of petroleum systems to critical results in sensitivity studies. statistical
parameters or key unknowns – such as calculations performed on the output
thermal history, source rock thickness, models test the sensitivity of the model
migration efficiency or trap leakage for to input variables. the probability
examples. to do this effectively, cairn distribution of oil and gas accumulations
india constructs basin models at an for hundreds of input parameter
variations can then be calculated for
each prospect to determine the best
probability of success.
cairn india limited.
3D basin model (shown on a depth surface) predicting hydrocarbon migration
pathways (green lines) and oil (green) and gas (red) accumulations

9. CAIRN INDIA LIMITED
cairn india is one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production
companies in india. it is headquartered in Gurgaon near Delhi and has material
exploration and production positions in nine blocks in india and one in sri lanka.
cairn produces oil and gas from three blocks in india: ravva in andhra pradesh,
cB-os/2 in the cambay Basin in Gujarat and rJ-on-90/1 in rajasthan where it
works in partnership with onGc. in 2007, cairn india was listed on the national
and Bombay stock Exchanges.
cairn has been operating in india for more than 15 years and has played an
active role in developing the oil and gas resources in the country. the mangala
field, discovered in January 2004 near Barmer, rajasthan and dedicated to the
nation in august 2009 by the prime minister, the Hon’ble Dr. manmohan singh,
is the largest onshore oil discovery in india in more than 20 years. the mangala,
Bhagyam and aishwariya fields have recoverable oil reserves and resources of
approximately 1 billion barrels.
in total there have been more than 25 discoveries on the rajasthan block and the
company is focused on exploiting the full potential.
cairn india will account for more than 20 percent of india’s domestic crude
oil production when the rajasthan fields reach the current approved plateau
production rate of 175,000 barrels of oil per day in 2011.
Health, safety and the environment are integral to cairn india’s business
management and the company is committed to working with all stakeholders to
deliver material growth.

10. www.cairnindia.com