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Oil and gas explorer ConocoPhillips has extended the contract for deploying Essar’s semi-submersible rig, Wildcat, for drilling off Indonesia till June 2014.
Essar Oilfields Services, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Essar Shipping, will now continue to deploy the rig off Indonesia at daily charter rates higher than the average market rates. It had bagged the initial contract for drilling 11 offshore wells for $121 million.
“We are getting a daily rate of $2,85,000 for this asset, which is higher than the market rate,” Ankur Gupta, CEO of the company, told Business Line over telephone from Mumbai.
He sees bigger opportunities in the drilling space as stable oil prices have been driving growth in the exploration sector. More than 500 offshore rigs are in operation worldwide, with about 90 of these belonging to the Wildcat class — at least 15 of these are deployed in Asia.
The company, which has 14 onshore rigs, is looking at new markets overseas for expansion. Currently, it deploys half of these assets overseas. “We are looking at new markets in the Far East and Middle East, such as UAE, Qatar and Iraq,” Gupta said.
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