CGG wins 3D job for ONGC despite smears
CGGVeritas will shoot ONGC’s first ever 3D broadband seismic survey after receiving a Letter of Intent (LoI) on September 19 - more than two months after price bids were opened.
Over the past few weeks CGG’s award was thrown into doubt after ONGC began receiving several anonymous letters every week questioning its competence and criticising ONGC for not short-listing “competent” rivals Dolphin Geophysical and Polarcus. ONGC’s head of geophysical services Chaman Singh finally summoned the Indian agents of Dolphin and Polarcus to his office in Mumbai on August 25.
“Both were called in at the same time on the same day,” says an industry source. “Singh told them he is receiving these letters every second day and wanted to know if they had anything to do with it.
” He adds both representatives declared their innocence and said they would never engage in such “dirty tricks.” When contacted, Singh declined to comment, saying he’s not allowed to speak to the press.
On July 4, ONGC opened CGG’s bid of $95m to shoot 3960-sq km broadband 3D in the Mumbai offshore. Schlumberger subsidiary WesternGeco quoted $106m.
ONGC, we hear, negotiated CGG down to about $90m, including ST (12.36%).
