Liu Weijiang (second from right), former director of International Department and the OTC team leader at CNPC, talks to Li Chun Mao, general manager of CPNC's subsidiary CP International, Inc. in front of a drilling model. May Zhou / China Daily.

More than two hundred Chinese companies, big and small, participated in the annual Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) in Houston. The four-day conference, opened on Monday, is the world's foremost event for the development of offshore resources since its inception in 1969.

The OTC is consisted of two exhibition sites: NRG Center and NRG Arena. The center hosts major companies with longer and more consistent participation in OTC, where major Chinese oil companies such as CNPC and Sinopec are found.

"We have been coming to OTC since 1990s, and we have come a long way since then," said Liu Weijiang, former director of International Department and the exhibition team leaderat CNPC.

"At the very beginning, we came to promote our equipment and products, now we are here mostly for name branding and visibility. We showcase our offshore new products and capabilities, to show what we are capable of," said Liu.

At one corner at more than 2400 square feet of CNPC's exhibit stands a podium, two rows of chairs and a wall with large LCD screen. According to Liu, this is the first year that CNPC does onsite technology report corner to engage industry experts.

Moreover, this is the first year that CNPC will be awarded Special Meritorious Awards for Engineering Innovation for its smart driller indicator (SDI) by E&P magazine.

Judged by an independent panel of experts, 17 technologies have been selected to receive this honor for opening a better avenues to the complicated process of finding and producing hydrocarbons around the world.

CNPC's SDI technology has been applied in more than 20 wells in China and have shown 20-54% of performance improvement, thus saving rig time and money, according to Liu.

Sinopec's exhibit also attracts a lot of traffic with its impressive product chain model from upstream exploration and development to drilling, pipeline, offshore platform, wells and fraction.

Liu Rushan, deputy general manager of Sinopecos, said that Sinopec aims to exhibit the company's oil and petrochemical equipment and servicecapabilities: "We have a complete production chain to provide a wide range of service. We come here also to learn the newest technology innovation and trend."

OTC is not just for the big guys. Small players can be found at the arena section where newer and less frequent participating companies are situated. One such small player isWuxi BeyondAOK Electric Company (AOK).

"We have been coming to OTC for the sixth time now," said He Daqing, general manager at AOK. "Although we are relatively much smaller, we have a lot of business in Mid-East and many of our partners also come to OTC. We want our presence known, and hopefully, we can find partners to sell our products," continued He.

"It looks promising," said Jake He, international marketing manager at AOK. "We have always set up meetings with some potential partners who are also at OTC."

According to OTC data, the conference has been growing and expanding. Last year, the number of attendants reached a 46-year high of 108,300. This year, OTC will offer free Open Access Day on Thursday, May 7 to increase networking opportunities for participants.

"OTC offers unprecedented networking and knowledge in the fields of offshore drilling, exploration, production and environmental protection," said OTC 2015 Chairman Ed Stokes. "During Open Access Day, we are excited to share these benefits and help equip oil and gas professionals with powerful tools for accelerating and sustaining successful careers."

mayzhou@chinadailyusa.com