ONGC floats tender to buy ₹3,500 cr rigs

In order to replace its old drilling rigs to improve efficiency, Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has floated tender to buy 27 rigs worth ₹3,500 crore. Fresh purchases will help partly replace its ageing fleet of 67 drilling rigs that’s currently operating at its onshore fields, said official sources, adding that its onshore rigs are old and that have an impact on the quality of operation and that the new rigs will make things more efficient. ONGC has traditionally owned onshore rigs, instead of hiring them, due to scarce availability of quality onshore rigs and for offshore, however, the rigs are always hired due to their adequate availability. Drilling rigs are mostly massive mobile structures housing equipment used to penetrate the earth’s surface to allow extraction of oil and gas from underground reservoirs. As it plans to step up oil and gas output that has been stagnant for years, ONGC has raised its drilling activity in recent years. The company has also taken steps to advance operational efficiency by introducing new technology, building more efficient well designs, and standardizing well testing procedure, they added.