China Oilfield Services Ltd, the oil service unit of the State-owned offshore oil and gas producer China National Offshore Oil Corporation, plans to add 50 vessels to its ocean engineering fleet, said Cai Dian, manager of the shipping department at COSL.

　　COSL is China's largest integrated oilfield service provider, operating a fleet of 108 vessels, which accounts for 60 percent of China's total ocean engineering vessel number, according to the company.

　　As China's first deep-water drilling rig recently began operations near islands in the South China Sea, COSL is ready to tap into offshore oil development, Cai said.

　　The 50 new vessels will be used to support the company's offshore oil projects, he added, during an industry forum in Shanghai on Sept 12.

　　COSL's new orders have triggered interest from shipyards both at home and abroad, which have been struggling with a difficult market condition since last year thanks to sluggish world economic growth and a dismal shipping market.

　　Many Chinese shipyards look at the country's offshore oil development project as a great business opportunity, but to compete with more experienced foreign shipyards, they need to enhance their research and development for more sophisticated techniques, said Jiang Qiang, director of the Sinopacific Shipbuilding Group, one of the country's leading shipbuilders.