While $150 million is being provided by World Bank's International Finance Corp in the form of a nine-year-loan while the remaining $850 million is from a dozen commercial banks, including ICICI, Cairn said in a release. Cairn also plans to float an initial public offering in Q4 2006 or Q1 2007.
The loan would be used to develop Mangala, Aishwariya, Saraswati and Raageshwari fields at Block RJ-ON-90/1 in Rajasthan. The company also received final approval from the government for the development plans for the four fields, the release said, adding that first oil was expected in end-2008.
The Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields are expected to yield combined proven and probable reserves of 514 million barrels of oil, with up to 685 million barrels of crude ultimately flowing if enhanced oil recovery is implemented.
Co-venturers in the Northern Fields project are operator Cairn with 70 per cent stake and state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp holding 30 per cent.
Cairn said work on its IPO (of its Indian business) is progressing and "is well underway and on track to allow the company to meet its aim of listing on the Bombay Stock Exchange in the last quarter of 2006 or early 2007 subject to market conditions."
Cairn said it would bring Mangala field on stream by Q4 2008, followed by Bhagyam and Aishwariya a year later.
"The first commercial production from Saraswati and Raageshwari fields is planned for Q4 2006. The initial combined target plateau rate of between 2,000 and 3,000 barrels of oils per day will be constrained by having to export the produced oil via road tanker."
However, once the Mangala export infrastructure is installed, it is planned, subject to capacity, that the Saraswati and Raageshwari fields, as well as other southern discoveries, will be tied into the export system.
Cairn said under the terms of the Production Sharing Contract the construction of the export system is the responsibility of the GoI through its nominated buyer, MRPL (a subsidiary of ONGC).
Facilities and Engineering design for Mangala is ongoing with a specialist team from Cairn working alongside the contractors in Mustang in Houston, the release added.
