Jindal Bags 3-Year Jack-Up Rig Charter with ONGC

Indian oil and gas company ONGC has chartered a jack-up drilling rig from the Indian offshore drilling contractor Jindal Drilling & Industries.

Jindal said this week that the ONGC had sent a letter of award for the charter hire of the jack-up drilling unit Jindal Explorer. The contract is for a period of three years. The drilling firm did not share the value of the contract.

The Jindal Explorer jack-up is a rig of Keppel's KFELS B design, delivered in late 2014. It is capable of operating in water depths of 350 feet (~107 meters) and drilling down to 30,000 feet (9144 meters).

This is not the only rig ONGC has hired this week. Oslo-listed drilling firm Shelf Drilling said Wednesday it had won a contract with ONGC in India for its Trident XII jack-up drilling unit

Under the three-year contract, the Trident XII drilling rig will be used by ONGC for drilling operations in the Mumbai High area, offshore India's west coast.

The 1982-built shallow water drilling rig of the BMC 300 IC design is expected to start operating for ONGC in the fourth quarter of 2021. Shelf Drilling did not share the financial details. Bassoe Offshore has estimated the dayrate to be around $30000.

Elsewhere in the Indian offshore drilling space, Aban Offshore on Tuesday said it had suspended operations on a jack-up rig working of ONGC due to the Covid-19 outbreak.  

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