Brand 'Cairn' is now exclusively owned by Vedanta

New Delhi, Nov 5 Vedanta Ltd (Cairn Oil & Gas business) has reiterated that it is a separate entity with no connection to Cairn Energy PLC.

Cairn Energy PLC, the Scottish oil and gas exploration company, that is also commonly referred to as Cairn Energy, will discontinue the use of the brand name 'Cairn' as part of its corporate identity by December 2021.

In a regulatory statement on November 3, Cairn said it plans to change the company name from Cairn Energy PLC to Capricorn Energy PLC, effective from December 13, 2021.

"This follows an agreement at the time of the Cairn India IPO that the name would ultimately be changed. Given the recent legislative change in India and our participation in the related tax refund process, we are now putting in place the planned name change."

As per Vedanta, the brand 'Cairn' is exclusively owned by it.

Discussing the change, Vedanta CEO Sunil Duggal said: "When Cairn Energy PLC exited its Indian operations in 2011 after selling its stake to Vedanta Group, it continued to use the brand name 'Cairn' though the brand 'Cairn' is owned by Vedanta Ltd (erstwhile Cairn India Ltd). At Vedanta, we have since then extensively invested in the company and expanded its footprint a cross the length and breadth of the country."

After being taken over by the Vedanta Group, the company, Cairn India Ltd, disassociated itself from Cairn Energy PLC the former having no association with Cairn Energy PLC and with both companies being separate legal entities with different promoters/shareholders.

Cairn India Ltd was later merged into Vedanta Ltd in 2017.

Cairn Oil and Gas Deputy CEO Prachur Sah said: "The disassociation of Cairn Oil and Gas from Scottish company Cairn Energy was always a matter of fact. This clarity will help us disengage from issues involving Cairn Energy."

As the two entities are separate, Cairn Oil and Gas does not have anything to do with the Cairn Energy PLC's retrospective tax dispute case, the statement said.

Cairn Oil and Gas, a division of Vedanta Ltd, is the largest private oil and gas exploration and production company in India, accounting for more than a quarter of India's domestic crude oil production. It has an extensive resource base, with a current interest in 58 blocks in India, including the 41 blocks under the Open Acreage Licensing Policy (OALP) Round I auction, five blocks each under Round II and Round III, and two awarded under the Discovered Small Fields (DSF) Round-II.

In 2004, Cairn made the largest onshore discovery in more than two decades in India at Mangala, Rajasthan. In its operations of 20 years, Cairn has opened four frontier basins with numerous discoveries, 38 in Rajasthan alone.