Four leading international seismic contractors are understood to be battling it out for a contract from India’s state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), covering a 3D seismic survey over more than 4000 square kilometres off the country’s western and eastern coasts.

Industry sources close to the development told Upstream that ONGC is presently evaluating bids and the seismic contract is likely to be awarded within a month.

“ONGC