Cairn Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of the Vedanta group, is seeking to collaborate with a global exploration and production company as it ventures into deepwater and ultra-deepwater exploration. Hitesh Vaid, the company’s chief financial officer, highlighted that recent reforms in the oil and gas sector, including the Oil (Regulations and Development) Amendment Bill, are expected to attract international investors to the industry.
Vaid noted that while Cairn has primarily focused on onshore and shallow water operations, the company is now exploring deepwater opportunities to enhance its expertise. He emphasized that the opening up of the sector in India has piqued the interest of foreign operators looking for local partners.
The Rajya Sabha recently passed the Oil (Regulations and Development) Amendment Bill, which aims to simplify business operations in the oil and gas exploration and production sector, thereby encouraging more investments. The bill also proposes to separate petroleum operations from mining activities, which is anticipated to further boost investment in the industry.
Cairn is currently in discussions for partnerships focused on the development of deepwater blocks, rather than equity investments. However, there is potential for these partnerships to expand in the future to include larger portfolios or equity stakes. In the latest bidding round for oil and gas blocks, the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) has made 25 blocks available, with 13 of them covering 133,000 square kilometers in deep and ultra-deepwater regions.
At present, Cairn holds 62 blocks across 60,000 square kilometers, with five of these blocks currently operational.
