Jindal jack-ups almost ready for ONGC
Two â€کnew build’ jack-ups from Jindal Drilling on long term contracts to ONGC are likely to arrive well before their scheduled mobilisation dates.
Jack-up Discovery 1 hired on a three-year contract at $160,000/day is due to be mobilised on November 1 this year but Jindal expects Singapore’s Keppel FELS yard to have the rig ready six weeks earlier on September 15. “Reaching India from Singapore will take about three weeks and she’ll go straight for the ONGC contract,†says a source.
Jack-up Virtue 1, hired on a five-year contract at $140,000/day, is due to be mobilised by May 2009 but Keppel FELS yard will deliver her by end-November this year for mobilisation to Indian waters latest by early January 2009. “For both rigs the shipyard is ahead of schedule and they’ve brought forward the delivery date,†says Jindal.
“This is the first time ONGC can mobilise â€کnew-build’ jack-ups ahead of schedule.†ONGC wants both rigs to drill in the western offshore in water depths of up to 300-feet.