New Delhi, September 2022.

Cairn Oil & Gas, India’s largest private oil and gas exploration and production company, and a unit of Vedanta Group, today signed a contract with the Government of India for 8 oil/gas fields under the Discovered Small Field (DSF) Bid Round-III. The contract confirming these blocks will further enable production activities. Of the 8 blocks won by Cairn Oil & Gas, 5 are offshore (Cambay off, Kutch off, Mumbai off and KG off) and 3 are onshore (2 in Assam, and 1 in Madhya Pradesh). Over the next 10 – 20 years, these fields are expected to produce 84mmboeof crude oil. The company has also signed a contract for the exploration, development and monetisationof both conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon resources from one Coal Bed Methane (CBM) block.

Speaking on the occasion, Prachur Sah, Deputy CEO, Cairn Oil & Gas, said, “We are happy to have signed a contract for 8 oil/gas fields with the Government of India, which will give an impetus to achieving the goal of doubling production capacities and contributing 50% to India’s domestic crude basket. The partnership is a reaffirmation of our commitment to increase our capacity to 500 kboepd, while simultaneously contributing towards economic prosperity across Indian states. The newly discovered oil/gas fields will assist the country in its journey towards Energy Aatmanirbharta.”

The Government held the third round of the DSF auction in May 2022 to offer 75 fields under Discovered Field Policy through International Competitive Bidding (ICB). These field were discovered by key major oil & gas players in the country who were invited to bid for development and monetising 32 contract areas comprising 75 oil & gas fields. Of these, 11 contract areas are in onshore, 20 in shallow water offshore and 1 in deep water offshore. Cairn Oil & Gas bid for 31 blocks and won 8, situated across different states.

With these new signings, Cairn’s current interest expands from 58 to 67 blocks in the country. Over the years, Cairn has played an integral role in shaping India’s domestic energy market and contributes ~25% to India’s total domestic crude oil production. The company’s Mangala Oil field recently entered its 14^th year of production and is home to a full-field Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) polymer project that is among the largest of its kind in the world. The field also marks the starting point of the Mangala pipeline – the world’s longest continuously heated and insulated pipeline that carries crude from the fields of Rajasthan to refineries in Gujarat. Cairn’s Ravva field, India’s first offshore asset, is an example of excellent reservoir management and adoption of state-of-the-art technologies which has resulted in achieving recovery factor of more than 50%.