Advent bids lowest for Oil India 2D contract

Gurugram-based Advent Oilfield looks set to receive an LoA from Oil India after bidding aggressively for a contract to shoot 1800-lkm 2D across OALP-5 blocks RJ-ONHP-2019/2 and RJ-ONHP-2019/3 in Rajasthan.

When Oil India opened bids end-July, Advent quoted the lowest at Rs30.84cr ($4.2m), beating eight other companies who bid by the May 11 (2021) deadline for truck-mounted vibroseis technology to measure seismic. "Oil India is yet to issue the LoA, but we are ready to start any time," confirms an Advent source.

Much depends on the outcome of charges levelled against Oil India in the Rajasthan High Court in Jodhpur on June 16 (2021) by Faridabad-based DS Geo Services, which accuses Oil India of unfairly excluding it from the tender. Despite this, Oil India will be hoping it can issue the LoA to Advent soon after it bid well below Oil India's internal Rs48cr ($6.5m) estimate.

Hyderabad-based Alphageo came second, quoting Rs36.63cr ($4.9m), followed by Asian Oilfield, which bid Rs36.7cr ($4.95m); Southwest Pinnacle bid Rs40cr ($5.4m). "Other smaller contractors quoted higher prices to reflect their higher overheads," says a source.

Working in Advent's favour is that the company has already mobilised in Rajasthan after shooting 2500-lkm 2D for Oil India at its 3016.34-sq km OALP-3 block RJ-ONHP-2018/2 under an Rs39.3cr ($5.3m) contract won on July 7 (2020). "We finished this job in April," adds Advent.

Other bidders for the 1800-lkm vibroseis job at RJ-ONHP-2019/2 and RJ-ONHP-2019/3 were Omani-backed AGS Geophysical Services quoting Rs47.86cr ($6.45m), Russian contractor TNG-Group quoting Rs79.3cr ($10.7m), and Kakinada-based Devi Engineering quoting Rs79.3cr ($10.7m). Gurgaon-based Quippo Oil & Gas and Rajasthan-based JP Singhal were also in the race, but their bids are unavailable.

Advent looks set to secure $9.5m worth of contracts from Oil India alone in Rajasthan in just one year with this latest bid.