Mumbai, 21 January 2020: Essar Global Fund Ltd (EGFL) today announced the appointment of Mr Pankaj Kalra as Chief Financial Officer & Head-Strategy, Essar Exploration & Production Ltd Mauritius (EEPLM), which is the upstream energy arm and one of Essar Global Fund’s (EGFL) key portfolio companies.
Mr Kalra will be responsible for overseeing the Finance, M&A and Strategy function of EEPLM and its subsidiaries. In this critical leadership role, he will be involved in driving financial performance and bringing added rigour to financial and investment decisions.
Mr Kalra has 22 years of work experience and a demonstrated track record of working across multiple sectors. His functional skill set includes expertise in M&A, fundraising (both onshore and offshore), accounting, internal controls, procurement and financial modelling. Prior to joining Essar, he was the CFO of Cairn Oil & Gas, and has been associated with Reliance, Aircel, Idea, American Tower and EY. Mr Kalra is a rank holder Chartered Accountant and a Company Secretary, with a bachelor’s degree in commerce from SRCC.
EEPLM is an early-stage developer, focussed primarily on oil & gas exploration. Its global portfolio includes conventional acreages that have a resource base of 3.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent (bboe) and recoverable of 1.7 bboe, as well as unconventional hydrocarbon acreages with a resource base of 15 TCF of gas and recoverable of 5 TCF.
Until date, EGFL has invested US $1.1 billion in Exploration and Production business.
These investments include:
- Unconventional hydrocarbon acreages in India through its entity Essar Oil & Gas Exploration and Production Limited (EOGEPL). EOGEPL is one of the largest exploration & production (E&P) companies in India primarily focussed on Unconventional Hydrocarbons (UHC). The company is a pioneer of UHC in the country, with about 25 years of experience in E&P of Coal Bed Methane (CBM). EOGEPL’s flagship Raniganj East CBM asset is not only India’s largest producing CBM asset but also has a prolific shale gas potential.
- Investment in Vietnam offshore block in a joint venture with Eni
- Investments in an exclusive block OPL 226 in Nigeria
EEPLM recently made a significant discovery of gas and condensate in its Vietnam offshore block. The Company is also breaking new ground in the unconventional hydrocarbon space in India and has emerged as a pioneer in CBM development and production. It seeks to utilise this experience and expertise to explore, develop and commercialise its other unconventional acreages towards enhancing the country’s energy security. With an independently assessed shale gas resource base in India, it is also poised to become a pioneer in this emerging energy frontier.
Media Contact:
Essar
Manish Kedia, Senior Vice President – Corporate Affairs, Essar
Phone: +91 98197 30092, Email: manish.kedia@essar.com