The jacket for Shell Nigeria’s HI project was loaded onto a ship and delivered at the Tianjin Intelligent Manufacturing Base terminal

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On December 15, the jacket for Shell’s HI project in Nigeria was loaded onto a ship at the Tianjin Intelligent Manufacturing Base port, marking a key milestone in the project’s development and injecting strong momentum into enhancing energy cooperation between China and Nigeria. The HI project is a landmark initiative in which CNOOC Engineering collaborates with Shell as the EPC general contractor for the first time. It is located 50 kilometers off the coast in the southern Niger Delta, at a water depth of 100 meters. The main components of the project include an upper module with four decks and a four-leg jacket; the project utilizes a hybrid power supply system combining wind and solar energy. Once completed, it will transport 350 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to support the expansion of Nigeria’s NLNG Line 7, thereby increasing the country’s liquefied natural gas production capacity by 35% and reinforcing its status as Africa’s largest natural gas producer. The jacket for the HI project features a 4-leg, 4-pile design, with a total weight of around 1,700 tons – equivalent to the weight of more than 1,300 cars. Its overall height is 103 meters, exceeding that of 36-story buildings. The project employs horizontal construction methods to precisely control welding deformation and optimize the assembly process. Digital techniques such as 4D visualization are used to fully leverage the capabilities of the “smart factory” automation lines, thereby accumulating experience for future jacket projects. The project emphasizes strict quality control throughout the construction process, establishes a dynamic inspection system, implements a “30-minute rapid response” mechanism, and conducts thorough inspections at all stages. This ensures that quality issues can be identified on-site, reported immediately, and resolved promptly, achieving full-process control. The project’s quality and safety standards far exceed those of the industry. In addition, by referring to international standards and Shell’s own standards, as well as drawing on experiences from previous projects, the project developed a specialized welding material plan, successfully enabling the use of domestic welding materials in international projects and setting a precedent for such materials in global engineering. Currently, the upper module of the HI project is in the final stage of onshore completion and testing. The project team is committed to maintaining high construction quality to ensure timely and high-standard delivery of the project, thus laying a solid foundation for deepening their strategic partnership