HEERA: SCHLUMBERGER WINS 3D PROGRAMME
Schlumberger has once again proved that it is ONGCs favoured service contractor.
Petrowatch learns GeoPrakla, a Schlumberger subsidiary, has won the tender to undertake a 3D acquisition and processing programme at the troubled Heera field on the Bombay High, where production is declining from a peak of 75,000 barrels a day(b/d) 22 month ago to around 60,000 b/d today ("PROBLEMS AHEAD AT HEERA IN BOMBAY OFFSHORE" Upstream India - 5/8/98). Other bidders, PGS Reservoir, Western Atlas, Compagnie Generale de Geophysique (CGG), all bought the tender documents but CGG pulled out early, failing to submit pre-bidding documents.
This report understands PGS was disqualified on technical grounds, leaving Western Atlas and GeoPrakla in the race. The decision to reject Western Atlas appears to have been made on price alone.
Petrowatch is reliably informed that GeoPraklas bid was half that of the bid submitted by Western Atlas. The 3D programme at Heera is scheduled to begin in January 1999.
It does not include interpretation. Heera is some 60km off the Maharashtra coast, adjacent to the Ratna and R Series series oilfields.
Production at Heera began in 1984 and today it contributes around 10% of ONGCs annual production of 27.73m tonnes (1997/98 figures). ONGC plans to drill between 24-26 wells at Heera over the next three years, from a mixture of clamp-on structures and new platforms.