India’s Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has launched a tender to charter up to 14 vessels to support its upstream operations, each on three-year terms.

At least two people familiar with the tender told Upstream that the state-controlled operator earlier this month had issued tender documents for a mix of offshore support vessels (OSV), platform support vessels (PSV) and anchor-handling tug supply vessels (AHTS) that it requires across multiple categories.

ONGC requires offshore vessels across three separate categories, each on three-year charters, one person said.

Scope details

In the first category, it wants to charter eight AHTS units with a bollard pull of no less than 80 tonnes.

In the second, it wants four PSVs with a deadweight of no less than 3000 tonnes, the person added.

For the third category, ONGC requires two OSVs with a deadweight of no less than 1500 tonnes.

The offshore vessels are intended to be used for shallow-water operations off India’s west coast, another person said.

Competition

Several leading offshore players are expected to queue up for the support vessels tender. Some of the domestic players that have shown interest in previous such ONGC tenders are Greatship, Hind Offshore, Shipping Corporation of India, Sadhav Shipping, Samson Maritime and Prince Marine.

In addition, some players from Southeast Asia and the Middle East region could also be in the fray.

Offshore plans

ONGC is moving ahead with select shallow-water and brownfield development projects off India's west coast and is also investing in maintaining the production profile of some of its key fields, including Mumbai High, despite the challenging market conditions.

The company is expected this year to offer shallow-water offshore west coast development projects requiring investments of more than $1 billion, leading to an increased requirement for offshore support vessels, project observers said.

However, some of the envisaged brownfield and greenfield developments could face further delays due to the current industry headwinds.

Capital expenditure

ONGC last year said that it sees capital expenditure coming down to 265 billion rupees ($3.6 billion) during the 2020-2021 financial year, in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic.

In terms of new projects, the seventh phase of ONGC's pipeline replacement project (PRP) offshore the west coast is likely to be put on offer soon, after being cancelled last year.

ONGC is also is expected later this year to tender its Daman upside project, once there is greater clarity on gas pricing.

The Daman development is expected to involve more than $1 billion of investment but ONGC has delayed the gas project due to the economic downturn and low commodity prices.

Rigs And Vessels

ONGC hunts multiple vessels for offshore India operations