China’s Greka Drilling to drill 100 wells at Essar Oil’s CBM block in India
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Greka Drilling signs USD 65m contract with India’s Essar to drill 100 wells at Raniganj CBM block
Greka Drilling has signed a well drilling contract with Essar Oil to accelerate the development of Raniganj coal-bed methane (CBM) block in the Indian state of West Bengal. The USD 65m contract will see the Chinese firm drilling 100 wells at Essar’s Block RG (East). The well drilling contract is scheduled for completion by December next year.
Greka Drilling will aim to initiate the drilling operations in the second quarter of 2014. The company plans to mobilise five GD75 rigs from China to drill a combination of vertical, directional and LiFaBriC wells at the CBM block.
Randeep Grewal, chairman and CEO of Greka Drilling, said: “We look forward to adding value to Essar’s objectives in producing significant commercial volumes of CBM from its large acreage position in the Raniganj block. Our successful track record to date in China and 15 years of specialised CBM knowledge enabled us to achieve a rapid understanding of the strata we expect to be drilling under this contract.”
Essar Oil’s Raniganj CBM block hastotal proven and probable gas reserves of 113 billion cubic feet (bcf) gross, according to oil and gas consulting firm Netherland, Sewell and Associates. Essar received phase III environmental approval for the CBM block in May 2013. This environmental clearance has enabled the Indian oil and gas giant to drill up to 650 well for full field development of the CBM block.
Naresh Nayyar, CEO of Essar Energy, said: “The final phase III environmental approval for Raniganj is an exciting milestone and is the key to us reaching peak production. We expect to grow the CBM business significantly in the coming years as we utilise the learning from Raniganj to develop our other four blocks.”
India’s ministry of petroleum and natural gas has recently proposed a unified exploration policy to allow private players to explore shale oil and gas, along with coal-bed methane (CBM) in blocks owned by them.
Courtesy: Oil and Gas Technology
