A DEEP-WATER jacket solely developed by China’s top offshore oil and gas producer China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) has been successfully installed offshore in the South China Sea, said its operator CNOOC on Monday.

The installation of Haiji-1, Asia’s first 300-meter deep-water jacket, marked a breakthrough in the country’s design, construction and installation technology of ultra-large offshore oil and gas platform jackets.

Haiji-1 is 302 meters tall, weighs up to 30,000 tons and has a 284-meter working water depth.

The installation will further guarantee the country’s energy security by boosting offshore oil and gas production and is expected to create a new mode for the country’s medium and deep-sea oil and gas resources development, CNOOC said.

It is the first time China has installed a fixed jacket some 300 meters underwater, a milestone in the construction of super large offshore oil and gas platforms in China, the company added.

According to Zhang Wei, deputy general manager and chief engineer of CNOOC China Ltd. Shenzhen, the introduction of Haiji-1 will be “more economical and safer,” compared to the conventional development mode of an underwater production system and a floating production platform, as the fixed underwater jacket is expected to greatly lower the operation costs of offshore oil and gas platforms in well drilling, production and maintenance.

When put into operation in September, the jacket will further improve China’s energy supply and help guarantee the country’s energy security.

China has been stepping up domestic oil and gas production with significant offshore results, a China Daily report quoted Li Ziyue, an analyst with from BloombergNEF, as saying.

China’s offshore oil and gas production, with great growth potential, is expected to continue rising over the next few years, the report said.

Deep-water jackets serve as foundations for offshore oil and gas platforms. They are used to support the massive weight of an offshore platform and are the most widely used offshore oil and gas engineering modality globally. Construction on the jacket was completed in Zhuhai in Guangdong Province on March 1, and it was successfully hauled onto a barge March 15.

Liu Yiyong, deputy manager of the construction department of Offshore Oil Engineering Co. Ltd., a CNOOC subsidiary, said the company has overcome numerous challenges including water injection under pressure, underwater grouting and sand slopes on the seabed, to ensure the jacket is precisely installed.

Haiji-1 will serve the Lufeng Platform 15-1 of Lufeng Oilfield Complex, operated by CNOOC China Ltd. Shenzhen in the eastern part of the South China Sea.

The Lufeng oilfield clusters, with a peak annual oil production capacity of 1.85 million tons, will inject new momentum into the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area while further lifting the country’s energy self-sufficiency capacity, the company said.  

(SD News)