SKRD wins 'radial drilling' job
Oil India has finally awarded a radial drilling contract to Delhi-based SKRD Energy Services, nearly a year after tendering.
SKRD is expected to begin operations by June 2024 after receiving the LoA for the Rs15.1cr ($1.8m) well intervention contract on January 20 (2024). "Mobilisation will be in four months," says a company source.
"The wells have not been decided yet." Radial drilling technology is a well intervention measure used in producing wells to enhance production.
On February 25 (2023), Oil India invited offers to carry out radial drilling at ten wells in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh for a year, extendable by another six months. Competing with SKRD was Gujarat-based BVishal Oil & Energy, whose price bid Oil India did not open because it offered technology different to that specified in the tender.
Around the same time, BVishal won an Rs20.6cr ($2.5m) contract from Oil India for two surface production testing packages in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh against competition from Woodland Works. This is the fourth time Oil India has tried radial drilling technology in its wells to enhance production.
Although SKRD only has this one job in the northeast, it has previous experience in two campaigns at the Kharsang field in Arunachal Pradesh under operator GeoEnpro. "They have also worked for Cairn in Rajasthan and ONGC in Agartala," says a source.
Radial drilling technology needs no rig but uses tubing lowered through the wellbore to clear fine particles blocking the channels to a reservoir. According to the tender, SKRD must "carry out radial/jet drilling for a minimum cumulative total length of 200 metres (with a maximum of eight lateral holes) with two laterals of at least 50 metres in each well using high-pressure fluid."