Vedanta-owned Cairn Oil & Gas has appointed Martyn Smith as its chief operating officer, ahead of its ambitious plan to scale up domestic output to 500,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in another three to four years.

The Indian player said in a statement on 27 December that Smith, who has “extensive experience of 35 years in reservoir and petroleum engineering, and subsurface geoscience disciplines", will be joining as the company’s chief operating officer.

“He is joining Cairn at a promising time as the company seeks to double its capacities and contribute 50% to India’s domestic crude production,” the company said.

Smith has been part of the leadership in global companies including BP, where he was the global head of reservoir development, it added.

He has worked in “diverse oil and gas portfolios across various technical, commercial and research roles in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, North America and Africa", Cairn noted.

Smith holds a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Geophysics from Cardiff University and pursued his MBA from Henley Management College in the United Kingdom.

Smith said that “Cairn Oil & Gas has made rich gains from successive OALP (open acreage and licensing policy) auctions and is now poised to realise its vision of doubling production capacities".

“With fresh investments and global technology tie-ups, the company is determined to augment capacities and secure energy autonomy for India,” he noted.