Raghav Jindal, managing director of Jindal Drilling & Industries Limited, explains to Jayne Alverca why the company should be a preferred partner for international oil and gas corporations wishing to create a footprint in the Indian market.
Jindal Drilling & Industries Limited (JDIL) was incorporated in 1983 with its prime focus on providing innovative and advanced technical solutions to the offshore drilling requirements of India’s oil and gas industry. “With modest beginnings but a mission to prosper with a strong emphasis on safety and quality driven by dexterity, integrity, professionalism, relentless commitment and operational excellence, JDIL is today uniquely positioned as a premium oil and gas drilling contractor, providing a wide spectrum of the highest quality services in the oil and gas sector,” explains managing director Raghav Jindal.
From the outset, JDIL has benefited from the experience and technical expertise associated with being part of the D. P. Jindal Group, one of India's most well-established and respected industrial organisations with revenues exceeding US$750 million and a workforce of more than 3,000. The group has a strong presence in India, manufacturing seamless (up to 14 inches) ERW and API 5L grade line pipes, and also deals in wind power generation, offshore drilling, directional and horizontal drilling, and mud logging services in the oil and gas industry.
JDIL is a key contractor for the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, the Indian government’s state managed enterprise, and also works closely with the US-based Nobel Corporation.
Jindal explains that JDIL came to life as an intermediary to fill a gap in the marketplace and has since steadily progressed up the value chain. “We pioneered promoting the concept of chartering offshore rigs in the Indian offshore drilling industry, whereby rigs were hired from international companies and were then contracted to Indian E&P companies for their drilling plans. Understandably by this process, the E&P companies enjoyed the leverage of getting the latest technologies and specialised services and improving their chances of success. Moreover, the international companies who wished to work in India but could not do so primarily due to the regulatory environment, benefited from having an Indian alliance/partner with the capability of managing risks and shouldering responsibilities and liabilities, and that is where we found our niche,” he explains.
Accredited to ISO 9001:2008 standard, JDIL currently operates five jack-up rigs, which are all deployed in the shallow waters offshore Mumbai and have the capacity to drill to depths of up to 30,000 feet. These drilling operations are the key focus of current operations; and the drilling division has a turnover in the region of £170 million, which accounts for almost half of overall revenues within the group.
Last year JDIL achieved the distinction of being one of a select group of companies that made it onto Asia's Best Under A Billion list, compiled by Forbes magazine. Jindal believes that the company has won its leadership position by distinguishing itself from other service providers on the basis of superior service quality, operational performance, equipment suitability and availability, reputation, reliability and technical expertise.
“We are now positioned as a world class drilling contractor,” he states. “Our rigs have achieved a record for either zero or near zero downtime and this is a very important performance indicator in the industry because of the heavy losses that can rapidly build up when a drilling operation has to be suspended. Our quality management is second to none and the levels of efficiency we achieve mean that we waste absolutely none of our clients’ resources.”
JDIL is committed to the achievement of a safe, healthy, injury-free and environmentally sound business for all persons and operations under its control, and to continuously improving the quality of work. JDIL’s excellence in providing quality services with high safety standards has resulted in it winning the safety awardfor ‘Without any lost time accidents’ from the International Association of Drilling Contractors, Houston, on many occasions.
“Our staff are extremely well trained to respond to any situation or emergency,” Jindal continues. “Equipment and staff requirements are processed immediately and we maintain excellent communications with our customers and partners. Staff training is a very important element of our success and each of our rigs has an additional personnel component which is there to watch, learn and be trained for future operations. We give deserving and excellent employees the opportunity to achieve the necessary level of skill and expertise and to progress vertically to superior and responsible positions within the company.”
Two years ago, a strategic shift to add value to the business by adding two newgeneration, state-of-the-art, premium jack-up rigs—Discovery I and Virtue I—led to the creation of a joint venture, with JDIL having a partial ownership stake. “The management is our responsibility and brings a new challenge, but obviously we also have the chance to derive a higher margin than when we are working on a purely contractual basis,” he adds.
He is keen to add more jack-up rigs, and is also keen to extend the company’s reach into more sophisticated drilling equipment and operations, tackling reserves located in deeper waters by adding semi-submersible rigs and drill ships. “We are among the top-end highly acclaimed service providers in India in this market, and now is the time to build on our achievements and reputation,” he declares.
Although the domestic market will remain the primary focus of operations (as there are huge opportunities to be tapped in various disciplines within India’s oil and gas market), JDIL is also studying opportunities in the Middle East and the Far East.
“In the near future with India’s insatiable appetite to explore oil and gas natural resources to fuel its domestic growth, I believe demand for offshore and onshore drilling rigs and drilling services, technology and other oilfield services will grow substantially; and we are actively seeking out more partnerships with companies abroad who want to enter the Indian market. We have been in the drilling industries for more than two decades and are well versed with the operational, legal and contractual requirements for carrying out such operations. We would be a powerful ally to international companies wanting to work in India and be able to extend comfort to them by providing our expertise, skills and experience for drawing technical, managerial and marketing intelligence inputs and operational back-up support. Our financial stability, professionalism and capability to shoulder responsibilities and manage risk will certainly be beneficial for building cordial business relationships.
“We also look forward to working overseas and we do not see ourselves as in any way limited by national borders. We will go to wherever there is a demand for our knowledge, expertise and capability,” he concludes.
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