Prize hires Quippo rig
Hindustan Petroleum’s fully-owned upstream subsidiary Prize Petroleum has hired a 2000-hp Quippo onland rig to drill at its 13,277-sq km NELP-VI South Rewa block or SR-ONN-2004/1 in Madhya Pradesh.
Last month (April) Prize issued a LoI to Quippo hiring it to drill three Phase-I committed exploration wells. “Quippo must mobilise the rig by November,” says a company source.
Prize earlier planned to begin drilling by July but postponed this until after the monsoon season ends. Quippo will drill each well to depths over 3000 metres, targeting the Gondwana, Barakar and Raniganj formations.
Each well is expected to take up to two months to drill. Prize identified drilling locations based on 300-sq km 3D and 2000-lkm 2D shot by Geofizyka Torun in 2009.
Prize (10% and operator) and Jaiprakash Associates (90%) signed the PSC on March 2, 2007, but it became effective from July 12, 2007 after they secured the PEL. Exploration Phase-I at the ‘frontier block’ will last five years.