Oil India close to abandoning KG block

Oil India is moving a step closer to relinquishing its once-promising and much-hyped onland KG-ONN-2004/1 block, where it has announced three confirmed discoveries.

Four companies attended Oil India's online pre-bid on May 11 (2021) for a rig to plug and abandon up to five exploration wells: Ahmedabad-based John Energy and GTC Oilfield services, Indore-based driller Shiv Ganga Drillers and Mumbai-based OGD-EHES (Essar). Oil India wants to hire a 1000-hp rig, cementing and mud engineering services.

Still unclear is why Oil India extended the bid deadline from the original June 10 (2021) to June 30 (2021). "GTC has a good chance of winning the contract," an industry source tells us.

"One of its rigs is already in Rajahmundry; this gives it an advantage." Oil India has reported three discoveries from nine exploration wells drilled since it secured a PEL on February 15 (2008) for the 549-sq km NELP-VI block.

Oil India permanently abandoned four wells out of nine drilled and is presently restoring their sites to their original pre-drilling state. Oil India temporarily abandoned the remaining five wells after testing and now plans to plug and abandon them permanently.

Included among the five wells are Dangeru-1, spud in April 2014, DNG-A1 spud in March 2017, and GDK-1 spud in October 2017. Oil India cites poor commercial gas flow and the logistical challenges of ultra-deep High-Pressure/High-Temperature wells for its loss of interest.