Cairn India

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Cairn India is a major subsidiary of Cairn Energy operating in South East Asia, with over 40 oil and gas discoveries and the development of major fields in India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.[1] In July 2011 Cairn Energy's 58 per cent majority share was sold to Vedanta Resources for $8.5 billion.

UK government pushes Vedanta Cairn deal

Vedanta's takeover of Cairn India was delayed for many months prior to completion of the deal due to investigations by the Indian government into Vedanta's environmental track record and ability to manage strategically important oilfields, plus disagreements over royalty rates between Vedanta and Rajahstani state owned company ONGC, a 30 per cent shareholder in Cairn's largest producing oilfield which is in Rajahstan.[2][3].

During this process the UK government stepped in several times to speed up the deal presumably following considerable lobbying from Cairn and/or Vedanta. In February 2011 Britain's high commissioner to India Richard Stagg, wrote to the Indian prime minister's office in outrage over ONGC's demands to recoup it's $3.1 billion royalty from the oil fields claiming that:

"A decision to approve the transaction on the basis of such a pre-condition would fundamentally change the commercial basis upon which the transaction had been agreed as well as unfairly impact minority shareholders in Cairn India. It would therefore render the proposed transaction unviable."[4].

When the Indian government demanded an investigation into Vedanta's controversial track record before agreeing to the Cairn deal, the British government stepped in to urge the deal along and prevent 'unnecessary delays'.[5] In February 2011 the British Prime Minister David Cameron even made a rare personal intervention with his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, to hasten a decision and break the deadlock over royalty payments threatening the sale. According to the FT newspaper,

In his letter, Mr Cameron emphasised the importance of the deal to British investment in India. The UK prime minister has appealed to Mr Singh to see that a decision is made on Cairn’s sale of the oilfields to Vedanta as soon as possible.

The UK PM's team told the FT that his 'decision to raise the Cairn deal with his Indian counterpart reflects his determination to bring a sharper commercial edge to British diplomacy in a bid to help overcome bureaucratic hurdles'[6].

Cameron also highlighted in the same letter the need for greater transparency and predictability in India’s policy environment to enhance trade and investment between the two countries, and several other issues of concern including over the Indian government's pursuit of unpaid capital gains taxes from Vodafone. [7]

Workers fear Vedanta takeover

Shortly after Vedanta's takeover was successful the Economic Times of India reported that Cairn India staff were afraid of changes in working conditions, pay and company structure under Vedanta's ownership. They quote anonymous workers who say they fear a change to their renumeration policy which currently gives some of them 'generous stock options' and are also afraid that Vedanta has no experience in the risky business of oil. Cairn India Chief Executive Rahul Dhir has been meeting with employees to alleviate their fears, telling them that Vedanta will help Cairn India to grow as a company[8].

Operations

Sri Lanka

Cairn Lanka Pvt, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cairn India has signed an exploration and production agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka for one of eight frontier oil blocks in the Mannar basin (two others have been reserved for the Indian and Chinese governments, and the Russian oil giant Gazprom are in talks with the Sri Lankan government for another[9]). Block SL-2007-01-001 is about 3000 sq km with a depth of 400m to 1900m and is located directly beside the Bar Reef Marine Sanctuary, a pristine coral reef which is thought to be the most biodiverse area off India's coasts[10][11][12]

Following seismic surveys carried out in 2009 and January 2010, Cairn Lanka contracted Japan Drilling Company (JDC) to begin exploratory drilling of three wells in August 2011 using the Chikyu Hakken, a fifth generation Japanese drilling ship which was damaged in the Sendai tsunami and will be fixed after this drilling operation[13][14][15][16][17]. Following Vedanta's takeover of Cairn India there are increased fears that this deep drilling operation in a sensitive marine area, carried out with an old and damaged drill ship could be risky.

Cairn Lanka secured a deal with the Sri Lankan Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa to be totally exempt from tax and import duty for equipment, machinery and materials used in their Mannar Basin exploration. This leaves Sri Lanka with only 10% of the profit share from the wells, which Anura Kumara Dissanayake, leader of the DNA party attacked in August 2011 as potentially inadequate[18]. Mr. Dissanayake also alleged that the government not followed standard tendering procedures before signing the deal with Cairn[19]

Rajasthan

Cairn India's Rajasthan operations include 150 wells with 25 discoveries to date, carried out with a 70% participating interest from Cairn and 30% participating interest from it's partner ONGC (the state oil company). Cairn plans to increase total production in Rajasthan from 240,000 to 300,000 barrels per day, and also to set up a 4.5-6 million tonne well-head refinery in the Barmer oil fields[20][21]. Issues relating to the Rajasthani block were an important part of the year long negotiations over the Cairn-Vedanta deal. Vedanta seemed to be pushing for the Barmer refinery, supported by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot along with as a range of fiscal concessions from the state. According to the Economic Times of India Gehlot encouraged Vedanta to participate in the equity for the project which would sweeten the Cairn Vedanta deal in the state's eyes. He allegedly added that;

technically, approval to the Cairn-Vedanta deal and construction of refinery in Rajasthan were two different things but it could be discussed at the Cabinet Committee in Economic Affairs (CCEA) meeting.[22]

Earlier, a row between state oil company ONGC had delayed the project when ONGC had asked that the royalties they paid on their 30% share in the Rajasthani oil fields and also on Cairn India's 70% share should be deducted from the profit from Rajasthani crude oil sales. Sharing this royalty burden will cost Cairn almost $2 billion[23][24]

People

Board of Directors as of July 2011:

Contact

Cairn India
3rd & 4th Floor, Vipul Plaza, Suncity, Sector 54
Gurgaon – 122 002
India
Telephone: +91 124 4593000 / 2703000
Fax: +91 124 2889320

Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ Cairn Energy website About Cairn Accessed 3/8/11
  2. ↑ Richard Wachman Vedanta given green light for $8.5bn Cairn deal The Observer, Sunday 31 July 2011. Accessed 3/8/11
  3. ↑ Amy Kazmin, June 30th 2011, Financial Times. 'Delhi approves Vedanta Cairn deal' Accessed 25/7/11
  4. ↑ EI Finance. April 27, 2011. 'Vedanta Buys Smaller Cairn India Stake as Delays Continues'
  5. ↑ Amy Kazmin, June 30th 2011, Financial Times. 'Delhi approves Vedanta Cairn deal' Accessed 25/7/11
  6. ↑ James Lamont and Amy Kazmin in New Delhi, and Alex Barker in London, Cameron intervenes in Cairn sale, February 18 2011
  7. ↑ James Lamont and Amy Kazmin in New Delhi, and Alex Barker in London, Cameron intervenes in Cairn sale, February 18 2011
  8. ↑ Himangshu Watts, 12/8/11 Cairn India staff keep fingers crossed on future in Vedanta Economic Times of India. Accessed 15/8/11
  9. ↑ Colombo Page newspaper. Tue, Aug 16, 2011 Russian oil giant holds talks with government minister on oil exploration in Sri Lanka Accessed 16/8/11
  10. ↑ Arijit Barman, Business Standard, Mumbai, August 17, 2011 A year on, Cairn drills into Sri Lankan waters Accessed 17/8/11
  11. ↑ Vinod Moonesinghe The Bar Reef Special Management Area Plan SARID, December 19, 2003. Accessed 16/8/11
  12. ↑ INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMINATION REPORT [www.prds-srilanka.com/pdfs/Sri_Lanka_Seismic_EIA_Final_Report.pdf Three Dimensional Seismic Survey for Oil Exploration in Block SL-2007-01-001 in Gulf of Mannar-Sri Lanka] CAIRN LANKA PVT. LIMITED. October 2009. Report prepared by: National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency. Accessed 16/8/11
  13. ↑ Arijit Barman, Business Standard, Mumbai, August 17, 2011 A year on, Cairn drills into Sri Lankan waters Accessed 17/8/11
  14. ↑ JAMSTEC website Where is DV Chikyu? Accessed 16/8/11
  15. ↑ Cairn India website Operations, Sri Lanka Accessed 16/8/11
  16. ↑ Colombo Page newspaper. Tue, Aug 16, 2011 Russian oil giant holds talks with government minister on oil exploration in Sri Lanka Accessed 16/8/11
  17. ↑ Energy-pedia website Sri Lanka: Japan Drilling Company signs contract to drill for Cairn offshore Sri Lanka 16 Nov 2010. Accessed 16/8/11
  18. ↑ Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). August 13, 2011 Lifting emergency: The talk of the House Accessed 16/8/11
  19. ↑ Daily Mirror (Sri Lanka). August 11, 2011 Thursday Cairn Lanka exempted from taxes and import duties Accessed 16/8/11
  20. ↑ Arijit Barman, Business Standard, Mumbai, August 17, 2011 A year on, Cairn drills into Sri Lankan waters Accessed 17/8/11
  21. ↑ Rajeev Jayaswal, Economic Times of India. Jun 13, 2011.PM assures support to Rajasthan in setting up refinery at Barmer Oilfields Accessed 17/8/11
  22. ↑ Rajeev Jayaswal, Economic Times of India. Jun 13, 2011.PM assures support to Rajasthan in setting up refinery at Barmer Oilfields Accessed 17/8/11
  23. ↑ Arijit Barman, Business Standard, Mumbai, August 17, 2011 A year on, Cairn drills into Sri Lankan waters Accessed 17/8/11
  24. ↑ Economic Times of India. Jan 31, 2011 Resolve royalty row before approving Cairn-Vedanta deal: ONGC tells govt Accessed 17/8/11
  25. ↑ Cairn India Website About Us, Board of Directors] Accessed 3/8/11
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