South Sudanese oilfield services company Nile Drilling & Services on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a Chinese firm to import two new drilling rigs.
Three-year deal signed in Juba during Oil and Power Conference between the Nile Drilling and Services (NDS) and petroleum drilling manufacturer Tianjin DFXK Petroleum will also see the Chinese firm will build the capacity of South Sudanese engineers.
Speaking to reporters after the signing ceremony on Thursday, James L. Yugusuk, President of Nile Drilling and Services, said the new additional drilling rigs will help explore and develop plans to boost the production of oil in Block 3 and 7 in Paloch.
“This is a memorandum of understanding to collaborate and work with Tianjin DFXK, which is one of the largest manufacturers of rigs in China. We already have two of their rigs, which we have been using for the last two to three years,” said James.
“They have the technology to drill, this is one and second is that they have the experience and technology transfer and this is one of the reasons we do that because, as you heard early, they are going to train our South Sudanese engineers and we are going to have experts from Tianjin DFXK who will come here and work with us on the rigs.”
Max Li, Marketing Director of petroleum drilling manufacturer Tianjin DFXK Petroleum said they will also build the capacity of South Sudanese engineers on oil drilling.
“In 2019, we sold two rigs to Nilepet, Nile Drilling and Services (NDS), and now NDS is planning to purchase another two drilling rigs as a professional manufacturer. we would like to provide full, complete support for NDS not only equipment but also provide technical support,” said Max.
“We are planning to a regular training course for NDS staff. Secondly, once it is needed, we will assign some key positions like a chief mechanic for different positions.”