India is in the process of filing an appeal against an arbitration panel asking it to return $1.2 billion to British oil firm Cairn Energy Plc, sources said on Wednesday. If enforcement proceedings are initiated, India is confident to address them and will strongly defend its interests, the sources said, adding it is open to a constructive settlement of tax disputes within the existing legal framework. India is in the process of filing an appeal in the Cairn's arbitration award case, they said, adding in this case, it was well within India's sovereign powers to redress the situation of Double Non-Taxation and tax abuse. Cairn chief executive Simon Thomson had last month met the then finance secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey to discuss the arbitration award.
Vedanta's Cairn Oil & Gas on Thursday announced the appointment of Nick Walker as the new chief executive officer (CEO) of the company. In a statement, the company said the appointment is effective January 5. "Before this appointment, Walker was president and chief executive officer at Lundin Energy, one of the leading European independent E&P companies," it said.
Apparently making amends to past slip-ups, UK's Cairn Energy on Thursday courted the government and ONGC to clear-up "misgivings" on sale of majority stake in its Indian arm to Vedanta Resources.
Billionaire Anil Agarwal-owned mining firm Vedanta Resources on Thursday said it is in talks to buy a stake in Cairn India, the company that owns the nation's largest onland oilfield.
The government has told Cairn Energy that its deal with Anil Agarwal-promoted Vedanta Resources will go through only after a formal proposal to the government is made and all clearances are obtained.
The company made the announcement on Tuesday as it reported a 2013 loss of $556 million after costs for unsuccessful exploration in Morocco and the North Sea soared.
The government has written to market regulator SEBI saying Cairn Energy Plc's deal to sell majority stake in its Indian arm to Vedanta Resources does not yet have its approval, a condition contingent for the $8.48 billion deal to consummate.
The board of Cairn India is opposed to accepting riders like sharing of royalty and payment of cess on the Rajasthan crude for getting government approval for its parent Cairn Energy's sale of a controlling stake in the company to mining group Vedanta Resources.
The company faces a potential tax demand.
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Cairn India said it has always been fully compliant with all Indian income tax laws.
UK's Cairn Energy Plc on Tuesday said it will seek shareholder nod for sale of majority stake in its Indian arm, Cairn India, to London-listed Vedanta Resources Plc for up to $8.48 billion on October 7.
The Indian government has asked a federal court in Washington to dismiss Britain's Cairn Energy suit seeking enforcement of a $1.2 billion arbitral award, saying it had sovereign immunity under US law. Cairn had in May asked a US federal court to force Air India to pay a $1.26 billion arbitration award the firm had won in December. The government on August 13 filed a 'Motion to Dismiss' petition in the US District Court for the District of Colombia, saying it lacked subject matter jurisdiction in the dispute between Cairn and the Indian tax authority, according to a filing seen by PTI.
The petroleum ministry has sought legal advice on payment of production tax by Cairn Energy of the UK on the crude oil it plans to produce from the Barmer district discovery in Rajasthan.
Cairn Energy of UK has said its Rajasthan oilfield can produce up to 150,000 barrels per day by 2007-end, 50 per cent more than the previously estimated 100,000 barrels per day.
The government-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Cairn India's partner in the Barmer block in Rajasthan, is closely scrutinising the stake sale in Cairn India by Cairn Energy.
A New York court has paused Cairn Energy's pursuit of US assets of Air India for the recovery of $1.2 billion arbitral award, so as to allow the British firm to reach a settlement with the Indian government on the long drawn dispute. The New York district court delayed the tax suit to November 18, according to court documents reviewed by PTI. This follows Cairn Energy and Air India jointly asking the court to stay further proceedings in view of the fresh government enacting a fresh law to scrap retrospective taxation in the country.
The UK-based Cairn Energy on Monday said it will sell 51 per cent stake in its Indian unit to mining firm Vedanta Resources Plc for $8.48 billion.
Cairn India, which is 69 per cent owned by London-listed Cairn Energy, is very close to securing the vital approval it needs to begin work on the pipeline to transport the oil from its vast Rajasthan oil fields, the Indian government has said.
Cairn Energy has sought equity participation from ONGC to develop its latest find of about 20 million tonne oil and gas reserves in Rajasthan.
The Cabinet on Thursday approved ONGC's proposal to acquire Cairn Energy's stake in two gas blocks for $135 million.
The exploration company will buy back shares from January 23 and extinguish them.
Issues related to the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) and bilateral investment treaty between India and the UK are expected to figure during the three-day visit of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to London from April 8-10, official sources said. The minister will attend a host of meetings, including the India-United Kingdom Economic and Financial Dialogue, in London.
British energy firm Cairn Energy Plc on Tuesday said it has discovered gas in its Rajasthan block, where India's largest oil find in more than two decades was made last year.
For India to invoke "sovereign" or "state" immunity to safeguard its foreign assets, which are under threat of getting seized in the intensifying legal battle with Cairn Energy, may come with several riders. Experts point out that the Indian government has to first satisfy the French court that the properties or assets that are under consideration are being used to dispense the state's sovereign functions.
Government wants Cairn India to agree to pay royalty and cess on its all important Rajasthan block.
Cairn joins a slew of multinational firms including Vodafone Group Plc and Royal Dutch Shell Plc that have been slapped with retrospective tax demands by Indian authorities.
British energy firm Cairn Energy Plc has again struck oil in Rajasthan, its ninth discovery in the state in the last two years.
The Edinburgh-based firm's current application seeking the nod for sale of 40 to 51 per cent in Cairn India, for up to $8.48 billion, has left out three producing properties, including the giant Rajasthan oilfields.
Net profit in 2012 was $72.6 million, compared with $4.56 billion profit in 2011, Cairn said in a statement.
UK-based Cairn Energy raised its estimates of oil at its three key Rajasthan fields, and said total potential production was now over 1,50,000 barrels per day.
UK-based oil firm Cairn Energy plans to create a separate unit out of its Indian operations and sell at least 25 per cent shares of the new firm through an initial public offering.
Air India has asked a New York court to dismiss a petition filed by Britain's Cairn Energy for seizure of its assets to enforce $1.2 billion arbitral awards against the Indian government, saying the litigation was premature as an appeal against the arbitration award was still pending. The petition by the airline, which is separate to Indian government's plea in a Washington court seeking dismissal of Cairn's lawsuit to seek confirmation of the arbitral award, said the New York district court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate a "mere hypothetical question" or one that depends upon contingent future events that may or may not occur. Cairn first moved a court in the US District Court for the District of Columbia seeking confirmation of the arbitration award and then filed a petition in the New York court to seek declaration of Air India as "alter ego" of the Indian government and so it should be made liable to pay the $1.26 billion arbitral award.
ONGC sought opinion from the second highest law officer of the country after its partner Cairn Energy Plc stated that the UK firm's sale of majority stake in Cairn India to Vedanta Resources will not trigger pre-emption rights of the state- owned firm, a top oil ministry official said.
The government will reserve the right to decide on the cost recoverability of royalty from Cairn India's block in Barmer while clearing Cairn Energy's sale of its Indian subsidiary to Vedanta Resources.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday indicated the government's intent to appeal against an arbitration panel asking India to return USD 1.4 billion to UK's Cairn Energy Plc, saying it is her "duty" to appeal in cases where the nation's sovereign authority to tax is questioned.
Cairn Energy Plc chief executive Bill Gammell described the 30-minute meeting as 'positive and constructive'.
India is massively underexplored, says Rahul Shir, CEO, Cairn India.
All in all, Cairn India shareholders are getting a 9.1 per cent premium based on closing prices of July 22
Cairn Energy Plc of the United Kingdom on Tuesday announced third significant discovery in Rajasthan this year, with gross in-place reserves of 400 million barrels.
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