China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) yesterday signed a $50
million contract with Norwegian company Aker Kvaerner ASA for
deepwater drilling equipment supplies.
The contract will help CNOOC, the nation's biggest offshore oil
producer, to strengthen its exploration and development of
deepwater oil resources, said Zhou Shouwei, vice-president of the
company.
As Norway's biggest maker of oil platforms and equipment, Aker
Kvaerner will pay more attention to its upstream business in China,
as now it has more petrochemical projects in the market, said
Martinus Brandal, president and CEO of the company.
The Norwegian company earlier won a contract valued at $128
million from CNOOC. The contract includes the delivery of an ultra
deepwater drilling rig.
Seeing business opportunity in deep-sea oil resources, CNOOC
plans to invest 15 billion yuan in deepwater drilling equipment in
the next three years, said Zhou.
The company will also focus its overseas expansion on ventures
in Western Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Central Asia,
he said.
China will finish its first deepwater drilling rig with a
maximum working depth of 3 km by 2011.
The maximum drilling depth will reach 12 km, which means it can
operate in deepwater regions in the South China Sea, Southeast
Asia, Gulf of Mexico and West Africa.
The project, with a total investment of 4.5 billion yuan, will
be carried out by Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co under China
State Shipbuilding Corporation, according to CNOOC.
(China Daily November 16, 2007)
