CBM Specialist Greka Drilled 28 Wells in 2015 First Half

Greka Drilling on Friday said it drilled 28 wells during the first half of 2015 calendar year compared with 19 during the same period last year.

Of the 28 wells drilled, 19 were in China and nine in India. The company drilled 18 wells for Greed Dragon Gas and the rest for other clients, the company said in its operations update.

Company’s chief executive Randeep Grewal sounded optimistic about the full year performance despite slowdown in the E&P sector globally.

“Notwithstanding the macro industry trend, the mobilised drilling campaigns of our key client (Green Dragon Gas) provide us confidence in a robust 2015 which we continue to expect to be an improvement over 2014.  In China, the company has begun drilling a 30 LiFaBriC well drilling campaign for Green Dragon Gas and is working with the client to design their recompletion programme for up to an additional 22 wells to be completed this year,” Grewal said.

He was also bullish on Greka’s prospects in India despite Essar having suspended drilling operations.

“In India, Essar has now suspended its drilling campaign but still intends to drill a single LiFaBriC test well to measure the results from the application of this technology to their CBM reservoirs and we hope this will complete in H2 this year. Whilst Essar's current suspension of its drilling campaign will reduce the initially forecasted revenue in the current year from India by the value of the remaining contract value, we remain confident about the company's longer term prospects in India,” he said.

In December 2013, Greka Drilling and Essar Oil signed a $65 million contract where Greka will provide turnkey and allied services to Essar in India and drill 100 wells at Raniganj coal bed methane (CBM) block in the Eastern Indian state of West Bengal. Raniganj block is Essar's largest current CBM operation with total area of 500 sq kms.