Apexindo warns influx of Chinese drilling firms

President director of the country's major oil drilling company PT Apexindo Pratama Duta Hertriono Kartowisastro has warned against the influx of Chinese oil drilling companies into the country's oil and gas sector, Investor Daily reported on Monday.

In an interview with the daily, Hertriono said the presence of the Chinese oil companies have become an imminent threat to local drilling companies due to the former ability to offer lower prices for the services.

"The Chinese firms generally use a dumping price system. I personally don't understand what kind of approaches they have taken to enable them to offer such low prices," he said.

Although, the influx of the Chinese drilling companies had brought no big impact on Apexindo's oil drilling business especially in offshore rig operation, their presence had caused a major problem to other local drilling companies, he said.

According to him, local companies have not many choices but to maintain the standard of their services to enable them to survive. He said Pertamina had, for example, barred a number of Chinese drilling companies to take part in the company's tender due to the low quality of their works.

"Pertamina has realized the low quality of the drilling services provided by Chinese companies. "The rigs operated by Chinese companies has more "down time" than "operating time," Hertriono said. (*)