NEW DELHI, Aug. 10 (UPI) -- India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp. plans to hire 17 on-land drilling rigs by December for exploration and production activities.
This would be the first time an Indian oil and gas major would be hiring onshore rigs. The company said it would award the contracts for four rigs within a month and contracts for the remaining rigs would be completed by December.
India's gas major has faced a serious problem with drilling rigs after its attempts to buy 25 offshore rigs proved futile. "Arrival of hired rigs will be a big help in onshore oil hunt, especially in the Assam Arakan basin," said a company spokesman.
He said the company has already floated four contracts to hire 16 rigs and associated drilling services. He said the rigs would include four mobile, six type-II rigs, five rigs of type-III and one type-IV.
According to the spokesman, two contracts have already been completed. Mobile rigs are eligible to drill at shallow depths and attract the lowest hiring charges. The type-IV rigs are the costliest because of their ability to drill very deep objects. They will de deployed in Sibsagar region of Assam state, the spokesman said.
As per industry estimates, type-IV rigs cost about $40,000 per day. The company recently hired a mobile rig from John Energy, an Ahmedabad-based company, at a cost of $14,000.
