CAIRN ENERGY

Cairn Energy

Cairn Energy

Introduction

The company was founded in 1981 by Sir Bill Gammell, the former international Rugby player, who remains its CEO, his father James (Jimmy), his brother Pete and others. Its initial operations were in the USA and, following its listing on the London Stock Exchange in 1988, it expanded into the UK North Sea and internationally (Papua New Guinea, Spain, Vietnam, China and Australia). Cairn acquired Conoco's UK onshore acreage in 1988 and became one of the largest operators of UK onshore oil production with the Palmers Wood oil field just south of London, near Junction 6 of the M25, Humbly Grove (near Basingstoke) and others.

Cairn's expansion started with a substantial (non-operated) gas discovery (East Cameron 331) in the Gulf of Mexico in 1993 followed by another large gas discovery at Sangu, offshore Bangladesh near Chittagong, in 1996.[6] In parallel, Cairn launched a series of takeovers of public listed companies - Teredo Petroleum in 1994, Holland Sea Search NV in 1995 and Command Petroleum in 1996. In 1996, Cairn farmed out a 25% interest in the Sangu field to Halliburton in return for Halliburton bearing a 50% share of the development costs. In 1997, it sold half of all its Bangladeshi interests to Royal Dutch Shell in return for Shell assuming a $330 million carry of Cairn's exploration and development costs. This agreement gave Cairn an interest in Shell's huge acreage position in Rajasthan onshore in North West India. Cairn drilled two unsuccessful exploration wells and Shell then sold its 50% share to Cairn for $7.5 million: Cairn's third well, now 100% owned, found the Mangala oil field. In August 2010 it was reported that Cairn will sell 40%-51% of shares in its subsidiary Cairn India to India-focused mining company Vedanta Resources for about $8.5-9.6 billion.

Business and Company Description

Cairn Energy is an Edinburgh-based oil and gas company engaged in the exploration for, and development and production of oil and gas. The company currently has proved plus probable (2P) reserves of 315.7 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) and net entitlement reserves of 225 mmboe. The company operates through two business units: the Capricorn Group, being Capricorn Oil and its subsidiary undertakings; and the Cairn India. Cairn India business unit operates primarily in India.

It operates Mangala Processing Terminal (MPT) in Rajasthan, which covers an area equivalent to 200 football pitches and includes oil, gas, power and water infrastructure. MPT currently has a combined potential production of 240,000 barrels of oil per day, subject to the necessary investment and approvals. Capricorn Group business unit is engaged in the exploration activities in Greenland and the Mediterranean.

Cairn Energy plc (Cairn Energy) was set up in Edinburgh, Scotland and was listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1988. The company entered a Bangladesh joint venture with Holland Sea Search (HSSH) in 1993. In the next year, the company signed PSC for Block 16, offshore Bangladesh. In the same year, Cairn Energy developed Rava ...