Cairn plans $54m onland 3D shoot in Rajasthan
Vedanta chief and Cairn supremo Anil Agarwal is desperate to extract as much oil as he can from RJ-ON-90/1 in Rajasthan before the PSC ends in 2019.
Next month (December) Cairn is expected to float a Rs300cr ($54m) tender to shoot 1500-sq km fresh 3D at the 3111-sq km block, as Cairn managers scramble to meet Agarwal’s target. Cairn’s survey will not focus on the established Mangala, Bhagyam and Aishwariya oilfields but on older discoveries made during the exploration period but never appraised: in the Vijaya and Vandana, N-R-4, Kameshwari and Guda-GRF discoveries.
Guda-GRF lies in the Thumbli and Dharvi Dungar reservoir; Kameshwari is in the Fatehgarh reservoir; Vijaya and Vandana and N-R-4 are in the Barmer Hill reservoir. Five onland seismic contractors sent EoIs by Cairn’s November 20 deadline: Shiv Vani, Alpha Geo, Asian Oilfield Services, IndianOilTanking, and Polish contractor Geofizyka Torun.
Cairn wants 1500-sq km high quality Vibroseis 3D and might choose to shoot an additional 1000-sq km. Geofizyka is tipped to win - nearby it is already shooting 1517-sq km 3D at a similar type of location at Oil India’s onland Rajasthan block RJ-ONN-2005/2.
“Geofizyka is the only bidder with Vibroseis equipment,” we hear. “All the others will have to buy or hire it.
” Yet Cairn might have to wait if it wants Geofizyka, another six months are needed to complete its Oil India job. Cairn wants to award the contract by next March and begin shooting 3D by July.
To speed up work, it wants two crews deployed and shooting completed by 2015.