RIL to take delivery of 3 deepwater rigs in 2009

Reliance Industries (RIL) will take delivery of three deepwater drilling rigs starting this year, as India’s biggest company by value, begins producing gas in the Bay of Bengal that may more than double the nation’s output.

RIL will receive three rigs capable of drilling in waters as deep as 12,000 feet from Transocean Inc. starting in the third quarter, data on the driller’s web site showed. The Indian company will pay 52 per cent more to rent the rigs compared with previous rates, based on the Transocean data.

Rental rates for deepwater drilling rigs continue to surge even as crude oil prices drop the most in a quarter of a century, amid a worldwide shortage of vessels. RIL is spending $5.2 billion to produce gas in the Krishna-Godavari basin starting next month.

“There is still demand for rigs in Asia because of the deepwater projects in Indonesia, South China Sea and India,” said K J Tok, an analyst who monitors the drilling market for ODS-Petrodata, a Houston-based energy consultant.

RIL is paying as much as $557,000 a day for Enhanced Enterprise Class, about 52 per cent more than its current average day rate for its three existing vessels, according to Transocean. It will pay as much as $510,000 a day for Dhirubhai Deepwater KG1 and Dhirubhai Deepwater KG2.

Rig use
Mumbai-based RIL will lose Deepwater Expedition to Malaysian state oil firm Petroliam Nasional, which will pay 71 per cent more for the drill-ship, in October 2010, Transocean said on its web site. A lease for Discoverer 534 will end in July 2010, and the firm has an option to extend it to January 2011. Deepwater Frontier will remain in service until September 2011, Transocean said.