OREANDA-NEWS. June 21, 2011. Royal Dutch Shell signed a global cooperation agreement with China National Petroleum Corporation, the parent of PetroChina, reported Shanghai Securities News, citing an announcement by the global energy giant.

Both parties will establish a 50:50 joint venture to develop a highly automated well manufacturing system that would improve the efficiency of onshore drilling.
The establishment of the joint venture is pending the approvals of the governments of both sides.

The joint venture will adopt advanced technologies developed by Shell and purchase most of the drilling equipment needed from Chinese suppliers in order to explore for natural gas resources at a lower cost.