Shares in Scotland-based Cairn Energy fell just under five percent Wednesday, after the company announced a new share listing to fundraise for the building of Indian infrastructure, including an oil export pipeline.

The placing of up to five percent of ordinary shares is expected to raise some £120 million ahead of first oil in second-half 2009 from the company’s main project Mangala in Rajasthan India. Cairn has discovered twenty five oil fields in Rajasthan, and although enough money is on hand to build plant and pipeline, more was sought to ensure managerial “flexibility”, including an ability to move on acreage as far afield as Greenland in the Arctic.

But Rajasthan and its four planned process trains targeting 205,000 barrels of oil per day are the key to shareholder happiness.

In the meantime, trucks will initially move Mangala’s first 30,000 barrels a day later this year. For Phase 2 in late 2009, an export pipeline is expected to boost production capacity by 50,000 bpd. Phase 3 is seen adding 50,000 bpd more until a Rajasthan Phase 4 complex takes hold in 2011 with 75,000 bpd.

So most of the proceeds of the share launch are destined for Cairn India Ltd. and not Capricorn, Cairn’s international entity. Cairn owns 65 percent of Cairn India.

Tags: Cairn Energy PLC