New bid deadline for Oil India 2633-lkm tender
Oil India has pushed back an August 23 bid deadline by two weeks in a government drive to increase the volume of 2D seismic available to the DGH for offer in future licensing rounds.
Now, Oil India wants to receive technical and price bids on September 6. Published on May 11, Oil India's invitation for offers to shoot 2633-lkm 2D across 'frontier' north-east areas falls under a January 15, 2015 government directive to shoot a colossal 48,000-lkm across unexplored areas across India.
ONGC was directed to acquire around 40,000-lkm and Oil India the rest. But delay in Oil India's tender for 2633-lkm has not stopped it issuing a second invitation for offers on August 11 for an additional 1745-lkm 2D: split into Area 1 covering 870-lkm in Manipur and Area 2 covering 875-lkm in the North Cachar hills in Assam.
"With this tender," says a source, "Oil India has issued all the 2D tenders for this government campaign." Still undecided is a pre-bid date for the latest August 11 tender. "Only contractors who buy tender documents (on sale till September 6) will be invited," we hear.
Whoever wins will be asked to deploy two crews to Area 1 with its rugged hills and narrow valleys and two crews to Area 2 which is rocky with steep hills and cliffs surrounded by thick tropical forests and rivers.