Vedanta wants to boost crude output from Rajasthan oil fields; plans $200 million investment: Report

Vedanta Oil and Gas is reportedly set to increase investment in its mature Rajasthan oil fields to boost crude output from existing wells. The company plans to invest about $200 million (₹2,000 crore) in 2026-27 across the region.

According to a report in The Economic Times, the investment will focus on the Mangla, Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields in northern Rajasthan. Vedanta aims to arrest natural reservoir decline and improve recovery from producing wells.

The immediate focus is on the Mangla field, whose discovery in 2004 made Barmer India's biggest onshore oil-producing region. Vedanta targets production of more than 150,000 barrels per day (bpd) from Mangla, up from about 80,000 bpd currently.

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The company plans to achieve this increase through enhanced recovery techniques such as polymer flooding, well interventions and alkaline-surfactant-polymer injection.

Jim Johnny Gast, interim CEO and whole-time director of Vedanta Oil and Gas, said producing fields were experiencing natural declines of 1-3%, making higher recovery from existing wells critical to increasing output.
“Over the last 20 years, the country's total crude production has remained stagnant at 0.87-0.99 mmboe, while consumption has nearly doubled from 2.65 to 5.6 mmboe,” Gast said in Barmer, as mentioned in the report. He said they are trying to explore small sedimentary basins with vast opportunity and increase production from the producing wells, which will reduce this large gap.

Vedanta's average gross operated production stood at 77.7 thousand barrels of oil equivalent per day (kboepd) in the first quarter of this financial year, down 17% from 93.2 kboepd a year earlier.

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Rajasthan remained the company's largest producing asset, accounting for 81% of its total production.

Vedanta said recovery from its producing wells has reached 41%, with a target of 60%. Enhanced oil recovery at Mangla is being expanded through polymer flooding and alkaline-surfactant-polymer injection.

Alongside its Rajasthan operations, Vedanta is developing the northeast region as a new hub for gas growth. The company seeks to increase production from existing assets and explore opportunities in smaller sedimentary basins.