Enquest tries again for Umatara

Enquest PetroSolutions has a second chance at winning IndianOil's tender to manage a two 'firm' and one 'optional' well campaign at DSF-2 field AA/ONDSF/Umatara/2018 in Assam.

IOC opened technical bids on July 29 (2021) in the new tender for a project consultant, which replaces a previous tender issued in February (2021) but scrapped in June (2021) after IOC found sole valid bidder Enquest's Rs7.26cr ($972,600) price too high. In the new tender, IOC received bids by July 28 (2021) from Enquest, Pune-based Manan Oilfield Services, Mumbai-based Saiph Energy, Singapore-based Telesto Energy and Kanpur-based Upstream Solutions.

IOC has set aside $7m to drill and test each well from an estimated $22.69m earmarked for CAPEX at the block. In this new tender issued on July 12, IOC has reduced the contract to 18 months compared to the February tender, which offered a 30-month contract.

"The old tender was for integrated work, but in this tender, we have split the work into two parts," adds IOC. "This tender is for the first part of the work, and because of this, we have reduced the contract period."

Whoever wins must carry out complete planning and scheduling, well engineering, tendering and procurement. "Enquest has a better chance of winning this tender," says an industry source.

He adds other bidders who did not qualify last time also get a second chance to correct their mistakes. Manan, Saiph, and Telesto bid in the previous tender but failed to qualify.

Petrofac and Vadodara-based KBUC bid last time but stayed away this time.