(Yicai Global) July 25 -- China's main chopper service provider CITIC Offshore Helicopter is pushing forward with overseas expansion plans by setting up a Saudi Arabian unit to help local oilfield exploration.

The Shenzhen-based firm will invest SAR2 million (USD530,000) as registered capital, it said in a statement yesterday. It hopes the subsidiary will facilitate more long-term contracts with local oilfields and improve the company's influence abroad.

Some of China's biggest state-owned petroleum companies are ramping up their overseas investments and will bolster demand for aviation services, the statement said, adding that the firm hopes to use this to its advantage.

Saudi Arabia was China's biggest crude oil supplier for 16 straight years through 2015, and is an important node on the route of the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese President Xi Jinping's master plan for a trade and infrastructure route spanning roads, oceans, rails and pipes spanning most of the planet's continents.

Editor: James Boynton