Carin Energy

Cairn Energy

Cairn Energy PLC is a Scottish company headquartered in Edinburgh. It is an independent public oil and gas exploration and extraction company that was founded in 1980. The primary operations of Cairn Energy are in Asia and the company is particularly active in India Bangladesh and Nepal in both exploration and production.

The company was formed by former international rugby player Sir Bill Gammell, who is currently still the CEO of the company. Cairn Energy was transformed by major finds in India and other places in south Asia, but is still to tap its biggest fields in Rajasthan. The group has focused heavily on South Asia which has resulted in many oil and gas discoveries with the prospect of significant further valuable finds.

The strategy of the company has been to establish commercial reserves and focus on these material positions that have the capacity to provide significant growth through exploration. In this way they endeavour to create and deliver shareholder value. This strategy has paid off as it has now entered the FTSE 100 Index after fluctuating between it and the FTSE 250 since 2004. 2006 revenue was published at $286 million with an operation income of $6.9 million.

Cairn Energy currently employs over 600 employees with its main operations in Edinburgh, Bangladesh and Nepal. It operates through Capricorn Energy Limited which also holds and operates assets in Tunisia, Albania, Peru, Shetlands and Australia.

Cairn Energy and Cairn India Limited

In 2006 the parent company Cairn Energy decided to separate its production interests in Western and Eastern India and create a new company. On 9 January 2007 the Indian part of the business was floated on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange of India. And so Cairn India Limited started trading, although Cairn Energy PLC still holds a 69.5% interest in the company.

Cairn India has continued to expand and recently has announced it is bidding for exploration assets off Sri Lanka, the first time the group since the split from Cairn Energy has sought assets outside India.

Latest Developments at Cairn Energy

CAIRN Energy is always looking to expand. It is currently on track to produce oil from its giant Indian fields in the second half of 2009. The company however is yet to receive key government approval for a pipeline. It still has to settle issues on the 580km pipeline needed to develop the fields with the Indian government, but Cairn seems determined to go head with the plans despite the uncertainty.

Cairn Energy has also won licenses recently covering a vast area of territory off western Greenland. It has been awarded six offshore blocks in Greenland. The award covers 45,000 square kilometres of an area that has been given the name the last frontier in oil and gas exploration.

This is a substantial achievement for the company as it has been estimated that as many as 110 billion barrels could be contained in one province off Greenland.