The production of oil and gas at FTSE 100 natural resources group Vedanta Resources rose by 21 per cent in the nine months to December 31st, the company said Thursday.

Average daily gross operated production of oil and gas was valued at 206,405 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd) over the three quarter period, compared to 170,436 boepd in the corresponding nine months of 2011.

The significant rise was attributed in part to accelerated production levels at the company's Rajasthan base. Production rose 36% at the Rajasthan plant, compared to the Ravva and Cambay plants, where production levels fell by 19% and 17% respectively over the same period.

In addition to oil and gas production level increases, the company reported a rise in its mined metal and integrated silver production, both of which rose 11% and 8.0% respectively at Zinc India.

Strong operational performance was reported at Aluminium smelters and the company reported that it had received government approval for oil and gas exploration in development areas. It said that this was key to achieving basin potential of 300 kbopd (thousand barrels of oil per day).

The group reported that it is now targeting drilling at the first well by the end of the fiscal year 2013.

MF

Related share prices
Vedanta Resources (VED) share price