ZPEB Project in Yemen Restarted

On May 20th 2012, a ceremony for resumption of work for project in Yemen was grandly held by staff of the project department in front of the office building of ZPEB No.2 Drilling Company, sending off the first batch of 18 workers to Yemen for resumption of the drilling operation.

The resumption of work in Yemen is achieved on the basis of two field-trip investigations and repeated verifications by ZPEB and the approval from Sinopec. The first rig crew to fulfill the task of drilling operation is still the rig crew 905 which was a pioneer one for opening up the market in Yemen in the year 2000, while the client is also the old partner, Norwegian DNO Company.

Yemen is an important petroleum engineering market of ZPEB in the Middle East. But the staff evacuated from the country in last June due to unstable political situation and thus the work has been shut down for nearly one year. Since the general election was held in Yemen in February 2012 and the new president was sworn in, the political situation has been moving towards stabilization and security situation been apparently improved. The Yemeni governmental authorities welcome Chinese enterprises to work in Yemen and both the chairman of PEPA and the client of DNO requested ZPEB to return to work and re-fulfill the contract.

Through repeated discussions and verifications with relevant staff of Chinese Embassy in Yemen, ZPEB conducted feasibility analysis on resumption of work by combining with actual condition of the country, the operation area and other different industries. On Mar 23rd 2012, a meeting was held by Foreign Affairs Department of Sinopec in Beijing and attended by representatives from SIPSC, SIPC, ZPEB and other oil companies, conducting analysis on the possibility for resumption of petroleum drilling work in Musilla oilfield in Yemen.

On April 28th 2012, Foreign Affairs Department of Sinopec organized an investigation group composed of security experts conducting an on-site inspection and survey in Yemen and holding discussions with relevant staff of the client and government authorities. On the basis of the investigation result and analytical verification, the resumption of drilling work in Yemen was approved by Sinopec.

Now the work for resumption of drilling operation in Yemen is orderly performed in accordance with the plan for resumption of petroleum drilling work in Musilla oilfield, which will open a new era for ZPEB to develop the petroleum engineering market in Yemen.