US oil solution firms eager to tap Chinese market: executive

HOUSTON - US companies dedicated to oil and gas communications solutions are eager to expand into the fast-growing Chinese oil industry, a company executive told Xinhua Thursday at the sidelines of a conference program in Houston.

Grant Whipple, sales director of Wineguard, a manufacturer of satellite antennas, made the remarks in front of the company's booth at the 2014 OilComm program's exhibition hall.

Whipple said communications and connectivity is "extremely important" in the oil industry as many oilfields are located in remote areas, either onshore or offshore. With communications solutions, engineers are able to monitor multiple sites and work more efficiently.

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Wineguard is upbeat about China's oil industry and looks forward to working with more Chinese companies.

"We have an international director to mind our business in China and currently we are really looking forward to expanding into the market there. We think we have product that will work really well for them," he said.

The conference program, an annual event specialized in oil and gas communications solutions, drew more than 1,000 professionals and scores of companies to the Houston venue. Among them lacked no shortage of Chinese professionals and Chinese firms.

Cheng Wei, a senior engineer with Beijing HKL Telecom Co who heads his team in the show, told Xinhua their company boasts a competitive edge in troposcatter technology globally.

Troposcatter is a method of communicating with microwave radio signals over considerable distances -- often up to 300 km. The technology, cheaper and faster than satellites, is mainly used in offshore oil platforms and between islands.

Cheng said his company is one of only two companies in the world which have successfully commercialized the technology -- the other an American firm. And he is confident that they will have more and more foreign customers.

"We are here to showcase our product and learn from our American peers," Cheng said.

Thursday's conference program also consists of multiple hands-on workshops, business-oriented sessions and high-level keynotes. The two-day event runs through Friday.

Driven by a shale boom, the US oil industry has undergone leaps and bounds in terms of output and technology in recent years. A federal report released last week said the country's crude production has climbed to the highest level in at least three decades to 8.97 million barrels a day.

The International Energy Agency said last November that the United States was expected to become the world's top oil producer by 2015, surpassing the likes of Russia and Saudi Arabia.