Featured Employer: Cairn Energy India

Cairn India is one of the largest independent Oil and Gas Exploration and Production companies in India. It is now part of the Vedanta Group, a globally diversified natural resources group with wide ranging interests in aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, silver, iron ore, etc. It is headquartered in Gurgaon near Delhi and has material exploration and production positions in 10 blocks in India and one in Sri Lanka. Cairn produces oil and gas from three blocks in India: Ravva in Andhra Pradesh, CB-OS/2 in the Cambay Basin in Gujarat and RJ-ON-90/1 in Rajasthan where it works in partnership with ONGC. In 2007, Cairn India was listed on the National and Bombay Stock Exchanges. The Company believes in working towards common objectives with a strong ethos of teamwork.

Cairn India's strategy is to establish commercial reserves from strategic positions in high potential exploration plays in order to create and deliver shareholder value. In the implementation of this strategy, Cairn India focuses on material positions that are capable of providing significant growth through exploration.

The story began in 1979, when Sir Bill Gammell, our former chairman, founded Cairn Energy. In 1988, the company was listed on the London Stock Exchange. Sir Bill Gammell became its first Chief Executive and has held this position for more than two decades, overseeing the organisation’s transformation to one of the largest independent exploration and production companies in Europe.

As the Indian oil and gas market deregulated in the early 1990s, Cairn’s focus turned to this region, acquiring Command Petroleum Ltd in 1996, an Australian-quoted company with interests in South Asia. Cairn Energy PLC, a FTSE 100 company, was one of the first UK companies to invest in the Indian oil and gas sector.

Cairn has been operating in India for more than 15 years and has played an active role in developing the oil and gas resources in the country. Ravva in eastern India was the first offshore oil and gas field to be developed, followed by the Lakshmi gas field in western India, which was discovered in 2000 and commenced production in 2002.

In January 2004, Cairn added the Mangala oil field in Rajasthan to its assets and this, along with the other discoveries in Rajasthan, are expected to form core of the future developments in India.

On 9 January 2007, Cairn India Limited was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.

In FY2010-11, the holding company of Cairn India Limited, Cairn UK Holdings Limited, along with its holding company, Cairn Energy PLC (Company’s ultimate holding company) agreed to sell a substantial part of its shareholding in the Company to Vedanta Resources Plc and Twin Star Holdings Limited (a wholly owned subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc).

In FY2011-12, Vedanta Resources Plc. along with its subsidiaries became the promoter of the Company. Thus, Cairn India is now part of the Vedanta Group, a globally diversified natural resources group with wide ranging interests in aluminium, copper, zinc, lead, silver, iron ore, etc.