Oil India hires GSF Rig 140 for east coast well
No longer is there any doubt about which drilling rig Oil India will use at offshore Cauvery block CY-OSN-2009/2 - located in the Palk Strait straddling India and Sri Lanka.
On November 6 Oil India issued a LoA to Transocean for GSF Rig 140 ‘ready stacked’ (ready to be mobilised) at Gangavaram Port in Andhra Pradesh ever since she completed her $156,000/day ONGC contract in September. Oil India was earlier expected to hire Transocean semi submersible MG Hulme Jr which was also offered for this two-well campaign.
“But we issued the LoA to GSF 140 because it’s in India already,” explains an Oil India source. By contrast MG Hulme Jr is anchored at Labuan Port in Malaysia.
Oil India says it wants to start the drilling programme in February 2016 but don’t hold your breath waiting for it to happen. “No mobilisation notice has yet been issued to Transocean,” says an industry source.
“Oil India has told Transocean to wait until the tender for drilling services is over.” Transocean is nonetheless preparing to mobilise the rig to Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu by mid-January 2016 just in case.
Oil India issued a limited tender for bundled drilling services on October 26 to Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes. A pre-bid originally scheduled for November 5 was put back to November 16.
