Reliance gets rig bids from 5 drillers
Despite earlier doubts about Reliance's seriousness, five drillers have offered deepwater rigs to drill development wells at the R-Series discoveries within the producing KG-DWN-98/3 block.
Reliance accepted bids on November 18 from Vantage Drilling, Seadrill, Noble Drilling, Odfjell Drilling and Transocean to hire a deepwater drillship to drill six firm development wells in water depths of 1500-feet (457 metres) to 7500-feet (2286 metres). "Reliance is saying it will finalise rig selection by February or March (2017)," says a bidder.
"We don't understand the hurry. They need the rig only in the third quarter of 2018." Another bidder speculates Reliance wants to "freeze" the rig contract soon to take advantage of prevailing low hire rates.
"Oil prices have crossed the $50/barrel mark," we hear. "Reliance knows it will not get a rig in the range of $200,000/day or less if oil prices cross $60/barrel." Brent was trading at $55.65/barrel on December 13.
Reliance has also accepted bids from casing and tubing manufacturers and oilfield service providers.