The Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (or ZPEB) is a Chinese oilfield services company. It is a subsidiary of

Sinopec China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (中国石油化工股份有限公司) or Sinopec (), is a Chinese oil and gas enterprise based in Beijing. It is listed in Hong Kong and also trades in Shanghai. Sinopec Limited's parent, Sinopec Gr ...

, one of China's national oil companies.

Ogaden attack

The company was operating in 2007 in the volatile, predominantly Somali

Ogaden Ogaden (pronounced and often spelled ''Ogadēn''; so, Ogaadeen, am, ውጋዴ/ውጋዴን) is one of the historical names given to the modern Somali Region, the territory comprising the eastern portion of Ethiopia formerly part of the Harargh ...

region of

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

in 2007. At the time the

Ogaden National Liberation Front The Ogaden National Liberation Front (abbreviated ONLF, so, Jabhadda Wadaniga Xoreynta Ogaadeeniya; ar, الجبهة الوطنية لتحرير أوجادين) is a social and political movement, founded in 1984 to campaign for the right to ...

waged an insurgency against the Ethiopian government. The company and its employees suffered grievously as collateral damage in the war at 4:30 AM on April 24, 2007 when 200 ONLF militants attacked the company's camp in Abole,

Somali Region The Somali Region ( so, Deegaanka Soomaalida, am, ሱማሌ ክልል, Sumalē Kilil, ar, المنطقة الصومالية), also known as Soomaali Galbeed (''Western Somalia'') and officially the Somali Regional State, is a regional state ...

. A firefight raged for 50 minutes between the attackers and 100 Ethiopian troops guarding the camp. The attack left 9 Chinese and 65 Ethiopians dead and 9 Chinese were taken as hostage.

Projects

*: The company was an early Chinese pioneer in performing geophysical surveying and drilling in Sudan. *

Petronas Petroliam Nasional Berhad (National Petroleum Limited), commonly known as Petronas, is a Malaysian oil and gas company. Established in 1974 and wholly owned by the Government of Malaysia, the corporation is vested with all oil and gas reso ...

, the Malaysian national oil company, contracted the company to conduct seismic survey in Ethiopia in Gambella and

around 2006. South West Energy, an oil exploration company, also contracted the company to do seismic surveying in Ogaden at around the same time.

References

{{Oil and gas companies of China Drilling rig operators Oilfield services companies Engineering companies of China Service companies of China