The board of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has approved a Rs 230 crore plan for the refurbishment and upgradation of 12 onland drilling rigs.
The proposal entails an additional budgetary allocation of Rs 140.53 crore, which has also been approved by the board.
State-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), the original equipment supplier or manufacturer of 52 of the 75 ONGC rigs in operation, and arguably the only Indian company with the required technical competence, has been entrusted the entire job on single-point responsibility. BHEL was awarded the contract on nomination basis.
However, the board emphasised the need to introduce an element of competition in the awarding of such contracts, and suggested that in such proposals, detailed analysis of competitive pricing should be indicated.
The board also suggested that the corporation should have a programme for on-going revamping of capital assets in order to remain abreast with latest technology for enhanced operational efficiency and safety.
It was clarified that the issue of rig availability and performance had been reviewed in totality, including a joint audit of each rig with BHEL.
The refurbishment programme has been spread over four years so that the drilling performance is sustained.
It was proposed to table the total programme of refurbishment and upgradation of drilling and workover rigs costing about Rs 1,600 crore for discussion in the next strategy meet of the corporation.
