Chinese company Anton Oilfield Services Group (Antonoil) said Thursday that it had beefed up its manpower base due to rising workload brought about by China's rapid growth of natural gas development.

As of June 30, 2012, the company has a total of 1,395 employees, up 23 percent from the same period last year, the company's published operational update shows.

Antonoil said that it had added most number of jobs in three major oilfield service areas:

multi-stage fracking

coiled tubing services

directional drilling

The update shows that Antonoil's total serviced well counts increased 151 percent in 2Q 2012 as compared to 1Q 2012, with integrated drilling, coiled tubing, helium testing and oil production services recording the highest growth rates.

The company also disclosed in the update that moving forward into the rest of 2012, it expects a healthy workload, with new multi-stage fracking and horizontal drilling contracts signed with stated-owned companies Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in the Erdos Basin, drilling fluids and tubular helium services in the Tarim Basin and similar projects in Xinjiang and Songliao.

Industry watchers are of the opinion that with unconventional gas at the center of the Chinese government's strategy to reverse declining domestic production growth, Antonoil is well-positioned embark on its aggressive expansion strategy in China.

"With tight gas driving top-line growth today and shale on the horizon, there are strong structural tailwinds behind Antonoil," CLSA Asia Pacific Markets said in a research report released on July 13, 2012. "Antonoil could well be a multi-bagger in the long-run," CLSA added.

Nomura Equity Research said on July 11, 2012, that Antonoil's 1H 2012 results could present a "surprise on the upside."

Schlumberger, the world's largest oilfield services company, took a 20.1-percent stake in Antonoil on July 9, 2012, Antonoil said in a statement on the same day.