News Oil & Gas

Vedanta to invest $4 billion in 3 years, double production

[ad_1]

Vedanta will invest $4 billion over the next three years to double its oil and gas production capacity to 300,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day, chairman Anil Agarwal said. “I have invested so far more than $20 billion in oil and gas,” Agarwal told ET in an interview. “I have a plan to invest another $4 billion.”

The $20 billion investment includes the price Vedanta paid for acquiring Cairn Energy’s India unit more than a decade ago, which gave it control over the country’s most prolific onshore oilfield in Rajasthan.

Agarwal met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday as part of a CEO roundtable at India Energy Week.

Vedanta currently produces about 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent of oil and gas, including 100,000 barrels of oil. Oil output is projected to double to 200,000 barrels in three years.

Agarwal said India needs to sharply cut its dependence on imports and produce at least 50% of the energy it consumes. “The world wants India to be a market,” said Agarwal, adding that the aim of Vedanta, on the other hand, is to help the country cut energy imports.

While domestic oil is being produced for $12 per barrel, India is paying about $80 for each barrel of imports, Agarwal said, comparing his cost of production with the going rate in the international market for crude.Agarwal said he was “ok” with the windfall tax currently being levied on oil production as it has fallen with the oil price.

(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)

[ad_2]

Source link