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CERAWEEK: Agarwal, a billionaire oil industry investor, may expand Cairn production by investing in US oil service companies

Cairn India, India's largest private oil and gas company, said Tuesday that it could invest in U.S. engineering and service companies as part a plan of $5 billion to increase output by five times in the next few years.

Anil Agarwal, a billionaire, said in an interview that he wanted to invest $5 billion to develop his project and reach 500,000 barrels of oil per day.

Cairn Limited, a part of Vedanta, produces today 100,000 bpd. The company plans to drill several deepwater exploratory wells in the next year.

Agarwal said, during a trip to Houston, where he attended CERAWeek, that Cairn is looking to buy five or six drilling rigs and work with seven or eight technical partners to explore and develop the offshore project.

Agarwal stated, "We would like to have at least 20 drilling rigs working in our field."

He said, "I can invest into the engineering company and the rig company because it will help me explore India better."

I'd love to see American companies come together and work on this project. (Reporting and editing by Simon Webb, David Gregorio, and Ron Bousso)

(source: Reuters)