Three leading international drilling contractors are competing for a significant deepwater drillship charter contract from India's state-controlled Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC). The contract is for a dynamically positioned drillship on a 36-month charter, with an option to extend by up to 12 months.

Technical Requirements and Bidders

ONGC requires a drillship capable of operating in water depths up to 3000 metres to target challenging exploration wells in ultra-deepwater regions like the Cauvery and Andaman basins. Three bids have been submitted. Vantage Drilling has offered the Platinum Explorer as its primary rig and the Tungsten Explorer as an alternate. Transocean has offered the Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2, and Foresea has offered the rig ODN-1. ONGC is expected to select its preferred contractor early next year.

Contract Purpose and Background

The drillship will be used for exploration, re-entry completion, and stratigraphic wells across ONGC's east and west coast assets to boost exploration and development efforts. This new tender aims to replace Transocean's drillship Dhirubhai Deepwater KG 1, which was awarded a contract in 2023. That previous 21-month program started in early 2024 and was worth about $222 million, with an estimated dayrate of about $352,000.

Strategic Context and ONGC's Plans

For Vantage Drilling, the ONGC opportunity is its primary target for reactivating a drillship, though the company is also pursuing other opportunities concurrently. ONGC has aggressive drilling plans, having drilled a record 578 wells (109 exploration and 469 development) in the 2024-2025 financial year, the highest number in 35 years. The company aims to significantly boost domestic oil production and scale up its exploration area to around 500,000 square kilometres in the long term. It continues to explore and develop acreage awarded under India's Open Acreage and Licensing Policy (OALP) on both coasts.