Cairn India invites supplier partnerships despite falling oil prices

Cairn India invites supplier partnerships despite falling oil prices

PRAMOD KULKARNI, Editor

HOUSTON – At a time when most oil companies are cutting budgets and scaling back E&P spending, Cairn India held supplier summits in Calgary and Houston to invite international oilfield service companies and equipment manufacturers to help the company with E&P projects in India, offshore Sri Lanka and South Africa.

“We’ve seen crude oil at $10/bbl and at $140/bbl,” explained Sudhir Mathur, interim CEO and CFO of Cairn India during the supplier summit in Houston. “But we’ve never faltered in our E&P projects.” Over 200 representatives of oilfield companies in the Houston area attended the summit.

Producing at the rate of 245,000 bopd, Cairn is India’s largest private crude oil operator. The company operates three fields: onshore Rajasthan, Rawa on the eastern coast, and Cambay on the western coast. Cairn has made wildcat discoveries on its block offshore Sri Lanka and expects to drill soon on its block offshore South Africa.

Spun off from Edinburgh-based Cairn Energy, Cairn India intends to spend $7 to 8 billion in the next few years to increase its reserves base from 3 to 10 Bbbl. Cairn India is part of the Vedanta Group, a globally diversified natural resources group with wide ranging interests in aluminum, copper, zinc, lead, silver, iron ore, etc.

“We’re nimble and cost efficient—the fastest growing company in the world, according to Platts Top 250 rankings,” said Sunil Bohra, Deputy CFO for Cairn India. The company has accomplished several technical milestones, including construction of the world’s first 600 km continuously insulated and heated pipeline. In October 2014, Cairn India began an alkaline surfactant polymer (ASP) flooding for enhanced oil recovery from its Mangala field in Rajasthan.

Among the special guests at the conference was Houston Consul General P. Harish, who suggested, “This is a good time to participate in India’s E&P industry with the beginning of the down cycle. India’s new government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has made energy sufficiency as one of its pillars of growth by eliminating red tape and rolling out the red carpet for international investment in the energy sector.”

A presentation on supplier opportunities was made by Suniti Bhat and B. Ananthakrishnan, heads of strategic business units, followed by a vote of thanks by T. K. Venkatesan, director of procurement and supply chain management.