Essar Oilfields starts drilling in Mercator's Cambay wells

Essar Oilfields Services (India) Ltd (EOSIL) on Tuesday announced that it has started work on a contract awarded by hydrocarbons explorer Mercator Petroleum to drill two firm oil wells plus one optional oil well in Gujarat's Cambay Basin.

An EOSIL release here said that with the company commencing a few other drilling contracts during the current fiscal, EOSIL is expecting to clock revenues of $48 million in this fiscal.

"EOSIL today announced that it has commenced a contract awarded by Mercator Petroleum to drill two firm oil wells plus one optional oil well in the Cambay Basin," the statement said.

"With the company commencing a few other drilling contracts in this fiscal, EOSIL is expecting to clock revenues of $48 million in this fiscal," it added.

Mercator Petroleum owns two oil and gas blocks in the Cambay basin and also operates offshore oil blocks.

According to the company, the newest land rig in company's fleet, the 'Essar Rig MR01 (1000 HP) has started drilling the first well for Mercator'.

"A trailer-mounted mechanical rig that is capable of drilling up to a depth of 11,000 ft, it has proved to be an outstanding performer during its six exploratory well contracts with Bharat Petro Resources."

"This contract bears testimony to Essar's 25-year expertise in the contract drilling business that is backed by world-class assets," EOSIL Chief Executive Rajeev Nayyer said.

In addition to its 15 land rigs, EOSIL also operates an offshore rig that is semi-submersible and capable of drilling in water depths of up to 1,600 feet and drilling depths of up to 25,000 feet, which is currently deployed on a three-year contract with state-run explorer ONGC, the statement added.