Hilong’s new drilling rig starts operation in Ecuador

The company expands rapidly in international oilfield services market.

Hilong Holding Limited (“Hilong”), a leading PRC-based integrated oilfield equipment and services provider, announced that its new 2,000HP drilling rig has started drilling on 16 December 2011 in Ecuador through its local subsidiary. It only took 59 days for the new drilling rig to departure China and commence drilling, which sets a series of new records for Chinese drilling rigs in Ecuador, including the fastest clearance, transport, completion of lifting a mast substructure and start-up for a new drilling rig.

Under the service agreement signed with Schlumberger Limited, one of the world’s leading oilfield services companies, Hilong will cooperate with Schlumberger to provide drilling services for Operaciones Rio Napo Compania De Economia Mixta, one of the national oil companies of Ecuador. The contract value for the year 2012 is over US$10 million. The record-breaking operation of the new 2,000HP drilling rig in Ecuador offers strong testimony of the capability of Hilong to meet the technology specifications of the international oilfield drilling service market. At the same time, the image of Hilong has been significantly enhanced, laying a solid foundation for Hilong’s products such as drills pipes and coatings to expand into the local market.

Hilong entered the oilfield service industry in 2008 and has focused on overseas markets ever after. The Group has leveraged its strength along the vertical industry chain and extended its oilfield services business to Kazakhstan, Nigeria and Ecuador, as well as Middle East. In the first half of 2011, revenue from the oilfield services business surged 94.0% YoY and the demand has remained strong, according to a Hilong report.

Mr Zhang Jun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hilong, said, “We are proud of our record-breaking services. Our performance, supported by our leading technologies and know-how helped us enhance Hilong’s brand internationally. We will keep closely following the global energy industry trend to identify opportunities for our continuous growth. We will continue to execute the strategies of focusing on high-end products and services in existing product categories, enhance our R&D capabilities to pave our way to becoming the leading global integrated oilfield equipment and services provider.”