Oil India plans 8 northeast horizontal wells
Oil India shows no sign of giving up on a horizontal drilling programme in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh despite local opposition following the devastating Baghjan well blowout.
On November 9 (2022), Oil India issued a tender to hire integrated drilling services to drill up to eight horizontal wells with a December 22 (2022) deadline for bids. Wanted is a full suite of services, from directional drilling equipment to mud engineering and even fishing, milling and completion services.
Oil India wants to drill the eight wells across the 25-sq km Kumchai field in the 427-sq km Ningru PML in Arunachal Pradesh, the 25-sq km Barekuri and 50-km Balimara fields in the 503.73-sq km Doomdooma PML and the 35-sq km Lakwagaon field in the 429.42-sq km Moran PML. Also planned are horizontal wells in the Baghjan and Baghjan South fields in the 75-sq km Baghjan PML: the site of the devastating BGN-5 well blowout on May 27 (2020).
Oil India's earlier seven-well horizontal drilling programme at the Baghjan PML came under scrutiny following the blowout, but the company maintains that its horizontal well drilling plans in Assam are too important to ignore or abandon. "Oil India's drilling services department is fully committed to achieving the company's goals," says the tender.
"Our whole workforce is engaged as a team with dedication in carrying out the following operations." Oil India's tender says the services will be deployed to drill five Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) wells, horizontal wells with True Vertical Depths (TVDs) of over 76320 metres.
Also planned are two 'High Displacement' wells, inclined by more than 60° for most of their length. Finally, it plans one multilateral drilling well where the borehole will branch out in multiple directions at the exact location.
All the proposed wells will be drilled vertically or directionally with 'S' or 'J' bend profiles. Oil India owns 11 drilling rigs: eight operate with an in-house crew; third parties manage four.
Oil India also has nine hired rigs - six on location and three on the way. Among its rigs are two 2000-hp VFD rigs, one 3000-hp BHEL (AC-SCR) rig, one 2000-ho BHEL (AC-SCR) rig, six 1400-hp BHEL (AC-SCR) rigs, one 550-hp Drillmec rig and seven 2000-hp hired rigs.