Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent
LOS ANGELES, Apr. 8 -- China Oilfield Services Ltd. (COSL) plans to enter the onshore drilling market this year for the first time.
COSL Chief Executive Officer Yuan Guangyu said the firm has decided to focus on the onshore market as a primary area of business expansion and as a main driver of financial growth.
This year COSL will deploy five drilling rigs in PetroChina's Changqing oil field in Shaanxi province, where it will provide drilling services for 3 years at a rate of $15,000-20,000/day.
COSL last year won a $100 million contract to supply an unnamed Libyan drilling company with four onshore rigs for 3 years, starting last month, each drilling to 5,000-7,000 m.
Yuan said COSL has signed a preliminary agreement to provide onshore drilling in Myanmar, and is in talks to provide services to shallow water oil and gas project operators in the Gulf of Mexico, where it already has built four rigs for Mexico's Petroleos Mexicanos.
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