The Chinese company “Intelligent Drilling Taihe Shaanxi” is going to invest in a plant for the production of drilling equipment in Russia. Experts believe that such investments are necessary. Russia needs more equipment produced in Russia.
The Chinese company Intelligent Drilling Taihe Shaanxi is going to open its production in Russia and plans to produce drilling pipes and rigs. Investments are planned at about 100 million yuan (about 1.3 billion rubles or 14 million dollars). As Wang Yihong, chairman of the board of directors of the Chinese company, told Interfax, a site for the establishment of a company in the Tyumen region is being considered.
“In the first stage we will produce pipes for oil and gas, in the second, large machines for oil and gas production.” — Wang Yihong told Tyumen Line.
Taihe Shaanxi specializes in the design and production of intelligent drilling equipment.
Chief Strategist of the investment company “Vector X” Maxim Khudalov He points out that the Chinese company’s investments are small.
“It will not be possible to build anything serious, but the precedent here is important. For example, in the mining sector, it was not possible for a long time to attract Chinese producers due to their specific attitude towards Russian environmental legislation and legislation on subsoil use. In this regard, the construction of facilities in Russia by Chinese companies is an example that in the future may allow increasing the number of Chinese investments in Russia.” – says Maxim Khudalov.
Small investments could be a test to test themselves in Russia and see how sanctions regulators in the EU and the US react, believes a leading analyst at FNEB and an expert at the Russian government’s Financial University. Igor Yushkov.
“What we need is more equipment. We have done something, but now we need much more.” – says the chief analyst of FNEB. According to him, everything related to drilling complex wells is needed: multi-stage hydraulic fracturing, complex wells called “fishbone” wells, etc.
“We suffered most from the withdrawal of Western companies in complex oil service operations,” explains Igor Yushkov.
President of OFS Technology, the former Russian division of the American company Baker Hughes, David Gadzhimirzaev In an interview with Vedomosti earlier this year, he said that the technological independence of Russian oil services is 38-40%.
“Russia is still dependent on foreign technologies. There are segments that are 100% or almost 100% localized. These are, for example, mechanized mining and drilling fluids. The more high-tech segments, such as rotary steerable systems (RSS), are localized by about 70%, in some cases 80%.” – said David Gadzhimirzaev. He noted that electronics are not produced in Russia: “There are many questions regarding microchips, sensors, sensors that we still have to buy from friendly countries such as China and India. How quickly we will replace this segment with imports is an open question that needs to be resolved together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and our customers who use the subsoil. It is possible to localize it 100%, but the issue is economic efficiency and quality. For example, non-magnetic steels are produced in Russia, but it is currently easier and more profitable for us to buy them in China and bring them here.”
Deputy Prime Minister Alejandro Novak He stated at the April meeting of the Coordinating Council for Import Substitution of Oil and Gas Equipment that a heat map of technological equipment shortages had been verified with oil and gas companies.
“A concept has also been prepared for the joint development and use of technological test sites for testing equipment and technologies for the oil and gas complex, one of the goals of which is mutual recognition of test results by consumers of equipment and technologies.” – said the Deputy Prime Minister.
