CAIRO, Jul 13 (NNN-MENA) – Egypt, yesterday, unveiled its first locally-produced oil rig in Ain Sokhna port, in north-eastern Egypt.
The 2,000-horsepower automatic trailer-mounted onshore oil drilling rig was manufactured by an Egypt-China joint venture.
“This is the first made-in-Egypt oil drill and will help carry out the digging and excavation programmes on ground areas,” said Egyptian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Tarek El-Molla, at the delivery ceremony.
He added that, manufacturing diggers locally is a new and important step, that enables the petroleum sector to make optimal use of its capabilities and accelerate its plans to drill wells, to increase the oil production and gas resources, amid growing demand for oil.
“The digger is a model of fruitful economic cooperation between Egypt and China, and a fine example of transferring manufacturing technology from China to Egypt,” El-Molla said.
Meanwhile, Zhang Chaoyang, minister at the Chinese Embassy in Egypt, said that, the successful delivery of the project is an important result of years of good cooperation between Chinese companies and their Egyptian partners.
This is a vivid example of the active participation of Chinese-funded companies in Egypt, in the joint construction of the “Belt and Road Initiative,” Zhang said.
As the producer of the excavation digger, Egyptian Petroleum HH Rig Manufacturing S.A.E Co. was co-funded by subsidiaries of China’s Honghua Group Ltd and Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation.
Zhu Hua, executive vice president of Honghua Group Ltd, said that, the localised production of the drilling rig in Egypt has alleviated the country’s shortage of imported oil and gas equipment, and trained local technical talents to help the country’s independent mining, and improve efficiency.– NNN-MENA
