Cairn Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources owned by billionaire Anil Agarwal, has announced that its reserves and resources portfolio in India has surpassed 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent (boe), according to media reports. This milestone makes Cairn Oil & Gas the largest private oil and gas company in India.
The company has identified 20 new development projects to bring a significant portion of its resources into production within the country. The projects aim to tap into the estimated total gross proven-plus-probable reserves and gross contingent resources, which are believed to amount to 1.156 billion boe. Approximately 85% of this figure is accounted for by oil, as stated in a report from India’s Economic Times newspaper, citing an unnamed company official.
Cairn Oil & Gas revealed that the combined gross hydrocarbons in place across all its assets are approximately 6.7 billion boe. Out of this, 1.18 billion boe has been produced to date. However, the company did not disclose its previous reserves or resources, nor did it specify the volume of reserves added to its portfolio.
The company primarily operates in India’s Northwestern state of Rajasthan onshore block, which contributes the majority of its production in India. Cairn intends to develop up to 20 potential new projects, targeting a substantial portion of the 846 million barrels of oil equivalent in gross best estimate gross contingent resources through this block.
In the fiscal year ending on March 31, 2023, Cairn reported that its total reserve plus resource additions exceeded production. This was largely driven by the acquisition of eight Discovered Small Field (DSF) licenses, resulting in a resource replacement ratio of 108%, as highlighted by the company.
