ASIAN ENERGY SERVICES Vs. OIL INDIA LTD.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Heard Mr. U.K. Nair, the learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. B. Chatterjee, the counsel appearing on behalf of the petitioners. I have also heard Mr. S.N. Sarma, the learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. K. Kalita for Oil India Limited and Mr. K.N. Choudhury, the learned Senior Counsel assisted by Mr. D.J. Das, appearing on behalf of the respondent No. 2.

(2.) Both the writ petitions along with the Interlocutory Application registered as I.A. (C) No. 2190/2021 are taken up together for final disposal.

(3.) The brief facts of the instant case is that geologically the Kumchai structure which is a deep seated domal anticline trending NE-SW is located in the extreme eastern part of upper Assam Basin. Presence of commercial hydrocarbon was established in the said structure in the year 1987. Thereupon altogether 14 wells have been drilled so far in the said area and out of which two wells were drilled for Tipam Hydrocarbon prospects and the remaining 12 wells for Girujan and post Girujan prospects. Presently four wells are on production. In the year 2008, a volume of around 80 sq. kms of 3D Seismic Data was acquired covering the present Kumchai structure. All the wells drilled in the said Kumchai structure are basically concentrated in the south western limb of the anticline and the entire north western limb remains unexplored for which large part of the Kumchai structure still remains to be delineated and developed. As of now 11 development/appraisal locations have been released recently with seismic reference based on Kumchai/Kherem 3D Seismic Survey. In view of the presence of substantial balance recoverable reserve and the necessity to recover the remaining hydrocarbon reserve from the lesser drained area and to augment the production and enhance recovery from the area for both oil and gas, Oil India Ltd. (for short OIL). proposed for acquisition of 96 sq. km. (source coverage area) of High Density (HD) 3D Seismic Data in Kumchai area falling in the State of Arunachal Pradesh by hiring the services of reputed and competent service provider having required infrastructure and relevant experience of carrying out seismic data acquisition in similar terrain/areas. The area of the seismic survey pertains to hilly/trust belt/logistically difficult areas/foreland part/close to river bed areas etc with moderate to high vegetations cover and inaccessibility. The service provider is also required to deploy sufficient technical resources, skilled manpower and adopt terrain specific shot hole drilling technology (100% mechanized shot hole drilling rigs) to meet the objective of the survey within stipulated timeline of six (6) operating months starting from November 2021 onwards. With that object in mind, Oil floated a tender bearing No. CDH 6944P22 for hiring of services for acquisition of high Density (HD) 3D Seismic Data of 96 sq. kms in Kumchai area Arunachal Pradesh on 10/5/2021 (published in E-portal tender process). It is also mentioned that technical requirement and significance of the time bound execution of planned high density 3D exploration campaign in Kumchai is very high in terms of denser sampling towards obtaining geologically conformable sub surface image to contribute for appraisal of the field.