HOUSTON, Sept. 4 (UPI) -- Cairn India Ltd. signed a $36.6 million contract to use the Hercules Triumph drilling rig in the Indian Ocean, Hercules Offshore announced.
Hercules said Cairn should have the rig ready for use in the Indian Ocean by October. Neither company identified the reserve basin it would target with the Hercules Triumph rig.
Cairn in July said it was designating most of a $3 billion investment targeting the domestic energy sector on the Barmer oil fields, the largest in the country. Cairn said it wants to reach a production level of 210,000 barrels of oil per day by the end of the current fiscal year.
Hercules President John Rynd said the $36.6 million contract shows his company is attractive to international investors.
"Our initial contract for the Hercules Triumph demonstrates the strength of demand worldwide for this quality of rigs," he said in a statement Tuesday.
Walter Oil & Gas Corp. reported it lost control of a natural gas well in the Gulf of Mexico while preparing it for production July 23. By the next day, a natural gas cloud had ignited, destroying part of a rig owned by Hercules Offshore.
The well was sealed naturally by sediment and debris in a process known as bridging. No injuries or major environmental damage was reported during the incident.
