China Oilfield Services (COSL), the dominant provider of support services to oil and gas producers in offshore China, will enter the onshore drilling market for the first time this year as it puts five drilling rigs to use.
Built at a cost of just over 100 million yuan (HK$111.2 million) each, the rigs will be deployed in PetroChina's Changqing oilfield in Shaanxi province and Libya this year.
'Starting from last year, COSL has decided to put the onshore market as one of its business expansion focuses and one of the drivers for profit growth,' chief executive Yuan Guangyu said in an interview.
So far the company only has minor business in providing well services in Xinjiang autonomous region and coastal areas surrounding Bohai Bay in northern China off Tianjin.
It has signed a contract to provide drilling services to PetroChina's field for three years at a daily rate of between US$15,000 to US$20,000.
Last year, COSL won a US$100 million contract to supply an unspecified Libyan drilling company with four onshore rigs for three years starting last month.
They can drill down to between 5,000 metres and 7,000 metres underground.
