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)