Royal Dutch Shell won the licensing round for Block RJ-ON-90-1 in 1992 from the Indian Government, entering into a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) with them.

In 1998, Royal Dutch Shell sunk a well in the area and put a logging tool probe (which detects hydrocarbons) down the bore.

[2] In 2005 the national Indian oil company ONGC exercised their right as part of the terms of the PSC to acquire a 30% stake in the two larger fields discovered to date.

Block RJ-ON-90-1 was included in the assets of Cairn India, which was floated on the Indian stock market in the same year, raising almost $2 billion.

ASP flooding would be riskier in terms of costs, well spacing, development time (five years), and would be more sensitive to the oil price.

However, the rewards for it are significantly higher, potentially increasing the incremental reserves by 25% when compared to polymer or water flooding.

First production was scheduled to begin in 2007; however, this has thought to have slipped to 2009 due to the tight oil market for equipment and services.