Rig shortage hinders Indian oil exploration

India has put off an auction of oil exploration rights by five months as a rig shortage delays drilling in existing fields and slows a quest to cut dependence on imports.

The nation’s seventh annual offer for oil and gas fields has been delayed until August from March, the Indian director general of hydrocarbons, V. K. Sibal, said Monday. Explorers led by Oil & Natural Gas have drilled less than a tenth of the 880 wells agreed to under exploration licenses awarded since 2000, government data show.
Oil companies including Reliance Industries and Italy’s Eni cannot keep pace as India offers a record number of areas for prospecting. The government has asked operators to share equipment to hasten discoveries that would reduce reliance on oil imports. India’s oil purchases last year made up about 29 percent of imports, contributing to a record $57 billion trade deficit in the year that ended in March.

“India would be among the countries having the biggest number of outstanding drilling commitments,” Tor Gunnar Gloppen, the chief operating officer of Rig Management Norway, said by telephone from Oslo on May 23.

India is helping explorers tackle the rig shortage by extending drilling deadlines in license agreements.

International Herald Tribune