The first oilfield drilling equipment with a depth capability of 12 km will be completed and delivered to its Chinese client this October by the Baoji Oilfield Machinery Co., Ltd (BOMCO), its general manager Zhang Yongze told China.org.cn on August 3.  

BOMCO researched and developed the ultra-deep drilling rig. The company won the contract offered by China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (Sinopec) after beating out competitors from the United States and an alliance of several EU companies.

China is the second country in the world after the US that has successfully produced 12-km-depth drilling rigs. Most companies are capable of manufacturing well rigs with only 10 km depth drilling capacities.

This is a significant breakthrough in the oil/gas exploration and exploitation sectors and it will furnish our company with greater global market competitiveness, Zhang said.

The deep drilling equipment is also part of the National High-tech R&D Program, specifically termed as the "863 Program". The central government funds and administrates this research.

"The price of a single 12-km-depth oilfield drill ordered by Sinopec is worth approximately 200 million yuan (US$26 million) and Sinopec ordered three of them," Zhang told China.org.cn. A ceremony has been scheduled in mid-October to celebrate the delivery of this equipment.

In the last three years, BOMCO has won 75 percent of all offshore drilling platform bids held in international public biddings, according to the manager. "Last year, the world market purchased 250 oilfield drillers, with BOMCO supplying 100 of them."

In 2006, the BOMCO earned 1 billion yuan (US$130 million) in exports, one third of its total revenue.

During the first half of 2007, the company produced revenues of 827 million yuan (US$108 million) in exports, an increase of 337 percent as compared to the same period of 2006, said Zhang.

(China.org.cn by staff reporter Wang Zhiyong, September 4, 2007)