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China Oilfield Services eyes overseas growth to offset domestic woes

Offshore driller posted a first-half loss of 8.4bn yuan including goodwill writedown on Norway-based Awilco

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Cosl is looking to expand its presence in markets including North America, the Middle East, Africa and the Far East region. Photo: Xinhua
Eric Ng
China Oilfield Services (Cosl), which is embroiled in a dispute with Norway’s Statoil over suspension of service contracts amid a protracted industry downturn, has turned to the overseas market for growth to offset shrinking domestic demand.
Cosl, the sister firm of state-backed offshore oil and gas producer CNOOC, could see half of its revenue coming from foreign projects in four to five years, as its cost competitiveness may help it grab market share from international rivals, chief executive Qi Meisheng told reporters.

A decline in domestic orders, while those from abroad are on the rise, saw the contribution to Cosl’s total revenue from the overseas market surge past 40 per cent for the first time, in the first six months of 2016. That compares with 25 per cent in 2010.

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“We’ve been working on expanding our overseas business in regions like North America and the Middle East,” Qi said. “We are also in talks on potential contracts in Africa and the Far East region, we expect to make some real progress in the year’s second half and next year.”

Cosl Monday posted a net loss of 8.4 billion yuan for the year’s first half, after booking 7.14 billion yuan in impairment of property, plant and equipment as well as goodwill writedowns. The results were in line with the company’s profit warning issued late last month.

The difficult times will linger around for one to two more years
Li Feilong, CFO, China Oilfield Services

The goodwill writedown was on Norway-based Awilco, which cost Cosl US$3.8 billion and was its largest acquisition to date. It was bought in 2008, at the height of a crude oil price boom.

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