Cairn’s parent company, Vedanta, is entangled in a legal battle with MOPNG in the Indian Supreme Court
Cairn renews Barmer block PSC
Much-needed private capital for the upstream is closer to being unlocked, but legal uncertainties remain
Privately held Indian E&P firm Cairn Oil & Gas renewed a ten-year PSC with India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG) for the Barmer oil block in the late October, de-risking a significant plank of the company’s planned $5bn investment programme in the country’s struggling upstream oil sector. The new contract will run until 2030, the initial licence to explore and produce oil and gas from the block having expired in May 2020. Increased contribution from private sector oil and gas producers to India’s crude output would be a much-needed fillip for the upstream sector. The share of India’s crude output delivered by private companies has been in long-term decline. Private/j
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
