Cairn Oil & Gas is converting its Mangala pipeline – the world’s longest continuously heated and insulated pipeline – to solar

New Delhi, June 3, 2022: To commemorate World Environment Day on June 5, Cairn Oil & Gas, India’s largest private oil and gas exploration and production company, has announced that its Mangala pipeline will now be converted to solar. The Mangala pipeline is the world’s longest continuously heated and insulated pipeline that runs from oil fields of Rajasthan to the refineries in Gujarat – traversing 705 km.

Discussing the company’s initiative to adopt solar power for its celebrated pipeline, Prachur Sah, Deputy CEO Cairn Oil & Gas, said, “The Mangala pipeline has been a great asset for Cairn Oil & Gas. Its unique technology has allowed the transportation of waxy crude from our Rajasthan fields to refineries in Gujarat. Mangala pipeline has been a testimony to our industry leading practices and now, its conversion to solar power is pioneering yet another first for the oil and gas industry. We look forward to several more years of successful production from Barmer and the Mangala pipeline will the backbone of sustaining our ambitions.”

At COP 26 last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India will achieve net-zero emissions by 2070. In line with the country’s ambitious goals, Cairn Oil & Gas is today pioneering ESG leadership in the sector and has committed to achieve net-zero carbon by 2050. For this, the company has created a robust ESG roadmap with a slew of diverse initiatives – the first in the country’s oil and gas sector to take this step. In fact, Cairn decision to convert its much-celebrated Mangala pipeline into a fully solar-operated pipeline flows from this ESG vision.

Discovered in 2004, Cairn’s Mangala oil field in Rajasthan was the largest global discovery of the year and India’s largest onshore discovery in 25 years. The field is also home to the Mangala pipeline – the world’s longest continuously heated and insulated pipeline that runs from the fields of Rajasthan to refineries in Gujarat – covering 705 kilometers. The pipeline is a technology marvel that was built to make the transportation of waxy crude produced from the prolific Mangala pipeline a thriving reality.

Now, this celebrated pipeline is making the solar switch. In line with its decarbonization commitment to reduce carbon footprint, Cairn is cutting dependence on more polluting sources of power and setting an important precedent in the industry. The midstream team at Mangala has initiated project to install rooftop solar photovoltaic on the available area of Above Ground Installations (AGIs) in a phase wise manner with the target of installing complete solar rooftop in all 36 AGIs by 2025. The goal is to shift the complete AGI load to solar energy and make our world’s longest continuously heated and insulated hydrocarbon carrying pipeline a greener and more efficient resource. Before this, the power for AGI operations in the midstream location in Gujarat was fully imported from the state electricity board and its predominantly coal-based power which comes with a much higher GHG emission intensity. So far, Cairn has installed total 13 AGIs with solar rooftop capacity of 15KW that is cumulatively reducing approximately 270 tons of CO2e/annum. Further, plan is to install solar on 10 AGIs each year to complete the project for FY 2025 and achieve total GHG reduction of ~770 tons of CO2e/annum.

As countries across the globe and India itself races to adopt cleaner sources of energy to control emissions and climate change, Cairn is leading the way in the oil and gas industry by combining the best of both fossil and non-fossil energy sources. The company remains committed to the country’s net-zero targets and its ESG vision lays the roadmap towards that end.

About Cairn Oil & Gas

Cairn Oil & Gas, 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 a world-class 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. Cairn Oil & Gas has recently reiterated that it is a separate entity with no connection to Cairn Energy PLC, the Scottish oil and gas exploration company. The brand name ‘Cairn’ is now exclusively owned by Vedanta Limited, and all others will discontinue the use of the brand name ‘Cairn’.

Vedanta Limited, a subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Limited, is one of the world’s leading Oil & Gas and Metals companies with significant operations in Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Copper, Iron Ore, Steel, and Aluminium & Power across India, South Africa and Namibia. For two decades, Vedanta has been contributing significantly to nation-building. Governance and sustainable development are at the core of Vedanta’s strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety, and the environment. Vedanta has put in place a comprehensive framework to be the ESG leader in the natural resources sector. Vedanta is committed to reducing carbon emissions to zero by 2050 or sooner and has pledged $5 billion over the next 10 years to accelerate the transition to net-zero operations. Giving back is in the DNA of Vedanta, which is focused on enhancing the lives of local communities. The company’s flagship social impact program, Nand Ghars, has been set up as model anganwadis focused on eradicating child malnutrition, providing education, healthcare, and empowering women with skill development. Under the aegis of the Anil Agarwal Foundation, the umbrella entity for Vedanta’s social initiatives, the Vedanta group has pledged Rs 5000 crore over the next five years on social impact programmes with a thrust on nutrition, women & child development, healthcare, animal welfare, and grass-root level sports. Vedanta and the group companies company have been featured in Dow Jones Sustainability Index 2020, and was conferred Frost & Sullivan Sustainability Awards 2020, CII Environmental Best Practices Award 2020, CSR Health Impact Award 2020, CII National Award 2020 for Excellence in Water Management, CII Digital Transformation Award 2020, ICSI National Award 2020 for excellence in Corporate Governance, People First HR Excellence Award 2020, ‘Company with Great Managers 2020’ by People Business and certified as a Great Place to Work 2021. Vedanta’s flagship Nand Ghar Project was identified as the best CSR project by the Government of Rajasthan. Vedanta Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange.

For more information, please visit cairnindia.com

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For further information please contact:

• Ms Rashika Kaul
Chief Communication Officer
Cairn Oil & Gas, Vedanta Ltd
Rashika.Kaul@cairnindia.com

• Mr Ayodhya Prasad Gaur
General Manager
Cairn Oil & Gas, Vedanta Ltd
Ayodhya.Prasad@cairnindia.com