Three offshore rig contractors have emerged as frontrunners in a tender from India’s state-controlled Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) seeking to charter up to three jack-up drilling rigs.

Project-watchers told Upstream that ONGC recently opened commercial offers submitted by five jack-up operators in August.

Middle East-based Shelf Drilling and Indian rig contractors Jindal Drilling and Aban Offshore are expected to land contracts.

ONGC is looking to charter a trio of jack-ups in two categories on three-year terms.

In the first category, ONGC requires two independent-leg slot units or cantilever-type rigs for its west coast operations, capable of drilling in water depths up to 300 feet.

Shelf Drilling is understood to have emerged as the lowest bidder, offering an operating day-rate of $40,000 for its jack-up Trident II, sources said.

Domestic rig operator Jindal Drilling is thought to be second in line, offering $41,125 for jack-up Jindal Supreme.

In addition to these two players, India’s Dynamic Drilling had also bid, but did not confirm the rig availability to ONGC. Dynamic had offered the Noah’s Ark rig.

Both Shelf and Jindal are expected to win jack-up contracts from ONGC in the first category.

While Shelf is expected to land the rig contract on the basis of lowest bid, ONGC is likely to ask Jindal to match the lowest price submitted by the Middle East-based rig operator, sources suggested.

In the second category, ONGC wants to charter one high pressure, high temperature independent-leg cantilever-type jack-up drilling rig capable of drilling in up to 150 feet of water.

This rig is likely to be deployed off India's east coast.

Aban Offshore is understood to have emerged as the lowest bidder in the second category, with a dayrate of $40,772.

Compatriot Jagson, the only other bidder in the second category, was said to have been technically disqualified by ONGC.

Aban offered its jack-up Aban II and is expected to win a rig contract from ONGC within days, sources said.

Earlier this year, ONGC issued a tender to charter half a dozen cantilever-type offshore jack-ups of MLT, BMC or Levingston designs.

Shelf has confirmed the award of two jack-up rig contracts from ONGC for its rigs CE Thornton and FG McClintock under that process. The contractor is also believed to have offered the lowest bid in the previous six jack-up tender, offering a dayrate of $41,325.

In addition, Dubai-based Foresight, Jindal and Greatship are also expected to have landed jack-up contracts from ONGC, drilling sources have suggested.

Drilling sources said dayrates offered to ONGC in recent rig tenders have climbed and are expected to be even higher in upcoming rig charter tenders.

One industry expert said that jack-up dayrates have recently breached the $40,000 level, far above the $26,000 to $28,000 range seen in similar tenders during the past couple of years.

ONGC operates more than 30 offshore rigs and is pressing ahead with an extensive exploration and development campaign over the next few years.

Weekly

Trio in frame for ONGC jack-up rig contracts off India