Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex was up 71.48 points, or 0.74%, to 9,718.79.

On BSE, 46,146 shares were traded in the counter. The stock had an average daily volume of 10.93 lakh shares in the past one quarter.

The stock hit a high of Rs 178.80 and a low of Rs 175.30 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 342.50 on 21 May 2008 and a 52-week low of Rs 88.15 on 27 October 2008.

The large-cap stock had outperformed the market over the past one month till 31 December 2008, gaining 21.60% as compared to the Sensex's return of 6.10%. It had also outperformed the market in the past one quarter, falling 18.68% as compared to the Sensex's decline of 24.98%.

The company's current equity is Rs 1896.67 crore. Face value per share is Rs 10.

The current price of Rs 178.30 discounts the company's Q3 September 2008 annualized EPS of Rs 1.72, by a PE multiple of 103.66.

The sharp rise in crude oil prices would result in higher realizations from crude sales for oil exploration firms. US crude oil futures for February 2008 settled up $5.57 to $44.60 a barrel on last trading day of the calender year 2008, tracking a jump in gasoline as a slowdown in domestic refinery activity sparked fears of tightening fuel supply this winter.

Weekly US inventory data on Wednesday showed a decline in refinery activity and a 500,000 barrel rise in crude stocks, compared with forecasts for a 1.5 million barrel decrease.

Cairn India on 22 December 2008 said it had made an oil and gas discovery near its existing field in Rajasthan. The company said the well had a flow of 500 barrels of oil per day and 0.4 million standard cubic feet of gas a day during a testing phase.

In November 2008, India's cabinet rejected an oil ministry proposal to award a deepwater block off the west coast to Cairn India, as the company had not offered the government an attractive enough share of potential production, or profit petroleum.

Cairn India reported a net profit of Rs 81.44 crore in Q3 September 2008 as against net loss of Rs 8.40 crore in Q3 September 2007. Total income surged 1258.1% to Rs 107.83 crore in Q3 September 2008 over Q3 September 2007.

Cairn India explores and produces crude oil and natural gas in India.