Oil India's new land rig deadline
Oil India has extended the bid deadline in its tender to hire up to five 2000-hp rigs to drill in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh for four years.
Anyone interested in bidding in the tender for three firm rigs and two optional rigs now has until April 4 (2024) to respond, extended from the February 29 (2024) deadline after Oil India invited offers on January 31 (2024). "Oil India extended the deadline on March 8 (2024) because it is still receiving (bidders) queries," says a source.
"One round of queries is finished, but contractors are still preparing the second set of queries, which is taking time." Quippo Oil & Gas, Simplex Infrastructures, John Energy, ASC Consulting and Sindhu Tradelinks are expected to bid.
Our source believes rates will definitely be higher than $16,500/day. "There is a lot of demand for rigs these days," we hear.
In a previous Oil India tender to hire five 2000-hp onland rigs, eight companies submitted bids on August 8 (2023). But Oil India could hire only two rigs.
JayBee Energy bid the lowest, quoting a Rs13.7 lakhs ($16,490) day rate. "JayBee offered a very low price," we learn.
"Most other bidders could not match that price." Only Kolkata-based Simplex Infrastructures matched JayBee's rate and won a contract.
Other bidders were Ahmedabad-based John Energy, Gurgaon-based Quippo, Mumbai-based OGD-EHES (formerly Essar), and Panama-incorporated Foresight Offshore. Two newcomers offered rigs: Faridabad-based Agrasen Petro (backed by Sivasagar-based Bhagwatji Energy Solutions) and Guwahati-based Victory Oil & Gas.
Oil India wants to hire more 2000-hp rigs to drill deeper wells to 3000 to 6000 metres TD at ageing fields. Initially, it intends to mobilise the three firm rigs to Charaideo, Tinsukia, Sibsagar and Dibrugarh districts in Assam and potentially to Arunachal Pradesh's Ningru PML.