Cairn Energy plans IPO in December

Mumbai: UK's Cairn Energy Plc will launch an initial public offer (IPO) of its India operations in December this year. Cairn, which discovered over 3.4 billion barrels of oil in Rajasthan, has, however, pushed back first oil from its gigantic Mangala field in the state to 2009.

"The partial initial public offer (IPO) for Cairn India on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) in December 2006 is on track," company chief executive Bill Gammell said.

The British firm also announced a split of its India operations into two - Cairn India (holding Indian development and production business) and a UK based exploration-focused business.

"IPO proceeds will be used both to return cash to shareholders and to fund the continuing business operations in Rajasthan," Gammell said.

Cairn said independent valuer DeGolyer and McNaughton (D&M) has estimated 3.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent in place in Rajasthan.

"Cairn estimates 3.6 billion barrels oil equivalent in the Rajasthan block, of which 2.2 billion barrels in place are currently under active development planning and 1.4 billion in place identified in other fields under review," the company said.