(Yicai Global) May 15 -- Chinese private oil and gas service provider Zhongman Petroleum and Natural Gas Group will provide drilling services to a subsidiary of Russia's largest petroleum company, Moscow-based Rosneft Oil, with an expected contract value of RUB1.4 billion (USD22 million), Zhongman announced yesterday.

The Shanghai-based firm's local subsidiary Zhongman Petroleum and Natural Gas Russia Gubkin Branch penned a contract with the Rosneft unit, Tyumen-based Kynsko-Chasel Oil and Gas, for an exploratory well project on May 13. Payment will occur in rubles, with the specific amount determined based on actual work quantity and settlement, the announcement said.

The project is in the oil and gas-rich region of west Kynsko-Chasel group in the country's eastern Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug in West Siberia, per the announcement.

YNAO is Russia's most prolific natural gas producing region, with its output making up 90 percent of the nation's total and about 17 percent of the globe's.

This is the second exploratory well agreement between the two. Zhongman, which has expanded its overseas drilling business in recent years, ahas won similar contracts in Iraq, Russia, Ukraine, Pakistan and other countries.

Editor: Ben Armour