Oil India Limited commences drilling well in Gabon

GUWAHATI: Oil India Limited (OIL) has commenced the drilling in a well in Gabon. First well in Gabon (Well No: Koungouleu-1, Loc SA) was spudded-in. The onshore block in Shakthi (G4-220) was obtained from Government of Gabon for hydrocarbon exploration in April 2006 forming a joint venture with Indian Oil Corporation Limited (45%) and Marvis (10%) where OIL (45%) was the operator.

The wells are around 250 km from Libreville, the capital city of Gabon by road. Both the wells are vertical wells inside deep forest with depth 3460 m and 3200 m respectively.

According to OIL it was a big challenge for the Project to undertake drilling operations within the expiry of the Block Permit (21/11/2012). After the release of Location in Mid-December' 2011, the locations were stalked in deep forest with no communication facility and OIL personnel had to walk for the several miles in dark forest. Thereafter, it was a daunting task to commence Drilling within 10-11 Months. However, the Project Team took up this challenge and finalized all tenders through International Competitive bidding in record time of 3 Months.

The drilling campaign was planned in coordination with a Project Management Consultancy firm of UK (M/s. FirstDrill) and all the services were grouped under seven major contracts viz. Rig Services, Mud Engineering, Cementing, Liner service, Wireline logging, Mud Logging and Production testing apart from Civil Contract. The contract for Rig service was awarded to M/s. Punj Lloyd Upstream Ltd, India, Mud Engineering-MISwaco, Cementing, Liner hanger and Production testing-Sinopec International, Wireline Logging-Schlumberger and Mud Logging-OFI, India.