ONGC explores drillship acquisition/JV for deepwater capacity under Samudra Manthan
State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is exploring the acquisition of deepwater drillships or formation of a Joint Venture (JV) to secure dedicated drilling capacity as it steps up efforts to accelerate offshore exploration to find oil and gas reserves under its Mission Samudra Manthan programme. ONGC has issued an Expression of Interest (EOI) to engage a specialist global offshore rig-broking consultant to identify potential drillship owners or counterparties, assess assets and valuations, and support the state explorer in negotiating a possible ownership or joint venture arrangement.
The initiative is aimed at creating dedicated, priority-access deepwater drillship capacity, according to the EOI issued by ONGC.
“ONGC is undertaking a structured capacity-creation programme to secure dedicated, priority-access deepwater drillship capacity in support of Mission Samudra Manthan. In view of the same, ONGC is exploring possibilities of ownership or JV model for Drillship acquisition,” the EOI said.
The Union Cabinet had last month approved Samudra Manthan, the National Offshore Exploration Scheme, with an outlay of Rs 84,084 crore through 2030-31.
The central-sector scheme is aimed at accelerating exploration of India’s offshore oil and gas resources, particularly in deepwater and ultra-deepwater areas, as the Government seeks to boost domestic production and reduce import dependence.
