ONGC tender for 3D over declining Bassein field
ONGC is planning a massive 3680-sq km 3D survey under plans to boost production from Bassein - India’s largest gasfield.
ONGC issued the high spec ‘full-fold’ 3D tender on June 25 and wants bids by August 21. Whoever wins the estimated $60m contract must mobilise a vessel by October 15 and complete work by May (2015).
ONGC tells us it wants to increase Bassein output by 20% from today’s production of 24m cm/d. “We already have seismic for Bassein but it is old,” says an ONGC source.
“We need to confirm it with fresh high spec data.” ONGC will be carrying out the 3D shoot to explore the Bassein and Panna formations in the central ‘graben’ area in water depths of 20-70 metres, an area dotted with oil and gas platforms.
Besides Bassein, ONGC will explore fields B-178, B-179 and the B-193 cluster of five marginal fields. ONGC wants a seismic vessel with six streamers, each 6-km long, and a ‘source’ vessel that can go near offshore platforms and shoot underneath.
ONGC has pre-qualified Russia’s JSC Sevmorneftegeofizika (SMNG), PGS, CGGVeritas, WesternGeco, Polarcus, Dolphin Geophysical and SeaBird Exploration. Hind Offshore might also bid, but the company declined to confirm or deny this.
One frustrated bidder worries ONGC will take too much time awarding the tender. “Sometimes ONGC tenders can stretch out for one, two or three years,” we hear.
