John drilling in Rajasthan
John Energy has begun a three-well exploratory drilling programme for GAIL at its 4613-sq km NELP-VI Rajasthan onland block RJ-ONN-2004/1.
GAIL ‘spud’ the first well on June 10 using a 1000-hp John rig. It is targeting the Jodhpur Sands formation and is likely to take up to 35 days to drill each well to 1800 metres, prospecting for ‘light oil.
’ Any ‘light oil’ discovered will be mixed with ‘heavy oil’ from two wells drilled earlier at the block in 2011. Yet another well drilled in February this year was plugged and abandoned after it turned out dry.
In total, the consortium has committed to drill six exploration wells in Phase-I, which ends in November. John won the three-well assignment in April quoting $14,000/day, against competition from Essar, Quippo, Deep Industries and Shiv Vani.
GAIL and GSPC each hold a 22.225% stake at the block; HPCL has 22.22%, BPCL, Hallworthy Shipping and Nitin Fire Protection Systems each hold 11.11%. They signed the PSC on March 2, 2007.