Oil exploration firm, Cairn India, which is coming out with one of India's largest initial public offers of up to $1.9 billion next month, is looking at the option of laying pipelines to evacuate oil from its Rajasthan fields.

Cairn plans to sell 30 per cent of its equity to fund its oil exploration business and buy oil assets from parent Cairn Energy Plc.

As per the agreement between Cairn and the Centre, the government's nominee, Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals, will have to lay the pipeline to evacuate oil so that crude oil production begins at Cairn’s Mangala field in three years. But till date, MRPL and its parent firm ONGC has not given any firm indication of the status of the pipelines.

“It is in the best interests for India, Rajasthan and for all stakeholders that this issue gets sorted out fast,” Cairn India director David Nisbet said. If needed, Cairn is looking at option of entering the pipeline business by getting involved in this pipeline project, he added. ONGC is Cairn's 30 per cent partner in Rajasthan oil blocks.

As per the production sharing agreement, the GoI had appointed MRPL as its nominee on 9 September 2005, and MRPL had proposed that the crude oil would be transported via a 500 km pipeline to Mundra-Kandla ports and then through tankers to its refinery at Mangalore. But MRPL’s progress in laying pipelines have not been able to keep pace with Cairn's own scorching pace of developing the oil fields.

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