Cairn India said it tied up funds worth USD 1.8 billion for development of its Rajasthan oilfields and was on schedule to deliver first oil in second half of 2009.

``We have adequate liquidity to meet the investment requirement for Rajasthan development,`` Cairn India CEO Rahul Dhir said.

The company reported an over 12-fold jump in its third quarter net profit to Rs 2.93 billion on back of high crude oil prices.

It plans to invest USD 1.8 billion in developing Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya fields in Barmer district of Rajasthan and laying a pipeline to transport the oil to refineries on Gujarat coast.

The company has cash on balance sheet of USD 670 million and has a credit facility of USD 850 million. It also has USD 200 million a year of operating cash surplus. Of the USD 850 million credit facility, the company is yet to draw about USD 700 million.

Dhir said the company was on schedule to deliver first oil from Rajasthan in second half of calendar year 2009 and reasonably confident of building the 580-km heated pipeline for transporting the crude before that.

Rajasthan has delayed grant of right of user (ROU) for laying the pipeline but the company believed they would be in place soon.

Shares of the company gained Rs 7.85, or 7.22%, to settle at Rs 117. The total volume of shares traded was 1,502,420 at the BSE (Wednesday).