New Delhi, July 27: Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) on Saturday awarded the multi million dollar tender for deepsea drill rigs to Transocean Inc of US and Dolphin Drilling of UK. The award for two deep sea drillships is valued at close to $835 million, senior company official said after a meeting of ONGC board which approved the award.

ONGC was looking for two rigs - one capable of drilling up to 1800 metre below the sea and the other capable of spudding up to 3000 metre - plus related technical and management services on three-year contracts since it does not have the required deep-water experience.
"With the award of the contract, the company can now begin its long delayed deepwater exploration campaign in the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal," the official, who did not want to be named, said.
Tranocean Inc, which was Reliance Industries' drilling contractor in the Krishna Godavari Basin in the Bay of Bengal where the company found gigantic gas field of 14.5 trillion cubic feet, has been awarded the contract for Category-I. Bureau Report