Cairn plans $4 billion in upstream investment, pursuing 1-million b/d of Indian production
Cairn Oil & Gas (Vedanta Ltd.), India’s largest private oil and gas producer, plans to invest $4 billion in onshore recovery enhancement and offshore exploration and development to increase hydrocarbons recovery from Indian basins. Cairn’s growth plans include:
- Deepwater exploration and development in Krishna Godavari (KG) basin off the country’s eastern coast.
- Shallow-water offshore projects on its western coast, where Cairn recently discovered hydrocarbons at its Ambe-2A appraisal well.
- Frontier exploration in northeastern India, so far yielding the Rudra 1 and Hazarigaon discoveries. Vedanta estimated ~6-MMboe of contingent resources at Rudra 1, drilled in fiscal 2025. Hazarigaon commenced gas flows in September 2024.
- Gas reservoir recovery enhancement.
- Tight oil development.
- Enhanced oil recovery.
Anil Agarwal, chairman of Vedanta, told Oil & Gas Journal in the context of the Iran war’s disruption of global energy markets that “any country which does not have 50% energy security will be impacted if global supply is disrupted,” noting further that “India imports around 90% of its oil, so any disruption in the Middle East directly impacts supply.”
India holds more than 300 billion bbl of untapped oil and gas resources, according to Cairn. The country’s Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Round X, initiated February 2025 as India’s largest oil and gas bidding round, offered nearly 192,000 sq km across 25 blocks in 13 sedimentary basins. Out of the 25 blocks, 13 are new deep- and ultra-deepwater sites.
Agarwal is eager to collaborate with peers in the US to develop these resources. “American companies bring strong technology, expertise, and an entrepreneurial mindset,” he said. “There is a great opportunity for collaboration between India and the United States across upstream and services.”
In particular, Cairn is looking for partnerships in drilling, subsurface engineering, and technical service. “I’m here with a shopping bag to spend $5 billion in the US to build our assets and increase production in India,” Agarwal said, regarding his participation in this year’s CERAWeek by S&P Global.
Cairn is targeting domestic production of 1-million b/d by 2036, Agarwal added.
About the Author
Christopher E. Smith
Editor in Chief
Chris joined Oil & Gas Journal in 2005 as Pipeline Editor, having already worked for more than a decade in a variety of oil and gas industry analysis and reporting roles. He became editor-in-chief in 2019 and head of content in 2025.