Cairn Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of Vedanta Group, has announced an investment of Rs500bn ($5.7bn) in the oil and gas exploration and production sector of Assam, a state in north-eastern India.
This investment was unveiled at the state’s global investment conclave, Advantage Assam 2.0 in Guwahati, which was attended by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, reported the Economic Times.
The investment aims to establish oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) facilities and boost employment in Assam.
Vedanta chairman Anil Agarwal said: "Assam has the potential to become the world’s Mega Basin. With an investment of Rs500bn, we will produce 100,000 barrels of oil and gas per day from Assam, creating direct and indirect employment for one lakh youth."
Cairn Oil & Gas possesses 7,650km² of territory in Assam's Arakan Basin, encompassing 15 exploration blocks. This includes 12 blocks under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy and three discovered small fields.
This announcement is expected to strengthen Assam's position in the oil and gas sector and support India's goal of increasing domestic energy production.
Since 2023, the company has been extracting resources from its Hazarigaon field, providing gas to tea plantations and powering 100 compressed natural gas buses in Guwahati as part of Assam's clean energy programme.
India is also set to more than double its liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency.
The nation's demand for LNG is set to increase from 36 billion cubic metres (bcm) last year to 64bcm by 2030, with an annual growth rate of 11% until the end of the decade.
The anticipated rise in India's LNG imports is propelled by the expansion of infrastructure and a slight uptick in domestic production.
Recently, French oil giant TotalEnergies committed to providing India’s Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) with 400,000 tonnes of LNG each year, starting from 2026, as part of a ten-year sale and purchase agreement.
The LNG, drawn from TotalEnergies' global portfolio, will be transported to terminals on India's west coast, mainly catering to GSPC's industrial clientele.
