【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Engineering Equipment】From 2096 to 2024, independent research and development led to the creation of the world’s first mobile heat injection platform – “Heat Extraction No. 1””
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This post was last edited by “Fish Swimming in the Desert” on December 19, 2024, at 21:29. Let’s give a thumbs up and encouragement to the achievements made by China’s chemical technology and equipment industry. Your participation in the discussion is the greatest motivation for us. ********************** [Ten Years of Great Development in Chemical Equipment] This is a continuously updated summary thread; all are welcome to join the discussion: https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html (Source: Haichuan Chemical Engineering Forum) ***************** On October 31, 2024, “Thermal Recovery No. 1”, the world’s first mobile thermal injection platform independently developed and built by CNOOC Energy Technology & Services Limited, was delivered in Weihai, Shandong Province. Its successful delivery fills a gap in China’s field of mobile equipment for in-situ heating of heavy oil in offshore areas. It opens up new pathways for the large-scale and efficient exploitation of China’s offshore heavy oil resources, acting as a \"new engine\" for this purpose; it is of great significance for ensuring **energy security and helping to maintain a stable supply of energy. “The \"Recai-1\" is 82 meters long and 42 meters wide, with a deck area of over 3,000 square meters, equivalent to the size of 7 standard basketball courts. It is over twenty stories tall, standing tall like a steel giant. It operates at a water depth of 35 meters, weighs over 10,000 tons in operation, and can withstand typhoons of level 16. Its compact design meets the requirements for mobile heat injection in the exploitation of heavy oil in the Bohai Sea oil fields. Many of the technologies employed, such as the design of mobile heat injection platforms and the compensation systems for high-temperature and high-pressure steam pipelines, are world-first. Compared to fixed oil production platforms for heat injection, \"Heat Recovery No.1\" possesses mobility; it can, similar to a shared bicycle, be transported to different platforms under the traction of tugboats to carry out rapid heat injection. This approach helps to reduce the costs associated with the development of heavy oil, thereby facilitating the large-scale implementation of heat recovery techniques for such oil.
China’s heavy oil reserves amount to approximately 19.87 billion tons; in the Bohai Sea alone, heavy oil reserves account for nearly half of the total proven crude oil reserves. The importance of awakening these dormant \"black amber\" reserves for our country’s energy security is self-evident. “\"Recai-1\" is equipped with the three largest steam boiler systems in offshore oil fields, enabling it to inject high-pressure steam at temperatures exceeding 350°C into 6 oil wells simultaneously. This reduces the viscosity of heavy oil, turning it into \"lighter oil\" that is easier to extract, and the overall efficiency of heat injection operations is more than three times higher than before. “\"Recoil No. 1\" was developed by CNOOC Development through the upgrading of \"Offshore Oil 162\", China’s first offshore mobile pilot production platform that was designed and built by the same company. The project was launched in January this year, with the main improvements including the addition of a steam boiler system, a seawater treatment system, a nitrogen system, and more. The demolition of 150 pieces of equipment, 400 tons of steel structural piping, and over 2,400 cables on the original platform was completed, while the welding of 550 tons of steel structures on the new platform, along with the installation of over 5,000 sections of piping and over 3,200 cables, was finished. 145 kilometers of new cables were laid, which is equivalent to the distance from Tanggu to Beijing. The original lifting system of the platform, the main generator set, and the emergency generator set were reused; the structure of 46 cabins was modified and strengthened, and the 1,600 square meter second deck as well as the stern deck were redesigned, manufactured, and installed. Through measures such as reducing the height of the second deck and using high-strength steel, the actual empty ship weight of the \"Reheat No.1\" and the strength of its platform structure exceeded expectations, demonstrating China National Offshore Oil Corporation’s capabilities in independently designing, developing, building, and operating heat injection platforms.
In 2007, CNOOC Development established China’s first heavy oil thermal recovery team, and after three years of efforts, it carried out the first pilot steam flooding test for heavy oil thermal recovery in an offshore oil field. In 2013, a compact steam generation system designed for easy transportation and lifting was successfully developed and applied in the Lüda 27-2 oil field. The research team worked together across various aspects such as geological reservoirs, chemical enhancement methods, wellbore technologies, and surface equipment to carry out rounds of mobile heat injection operations. In 2022, mobile heat injection treatments were successfully conducted on 4 wells at the Lüda 27-2 oil field and the Jin County 1-1 oil field, which helped to establish a preliminary framework for mobile heat recovery technology in offshore heavy oil fields. This laid the foundation for using technological advancements to promote the efficient development of heavy oil, thereby creating new opportunities for increasing oil and gas reserves and production. After 17 years of development, \"Reheat No.1\" was unveiled, bringing with it the advantage of a \"mobile + simultaneous injection from 6 wells\" setup. It created a engineering miracle in the field of mobile heat injection platforms, leading to a historic transformation in the methods used for developing heavy oil. This innovation significantly reduced the investment required for such developments as well as the operational costs, laying a solid technical and equipment foundation for the large-scale development of heavy oil via heat injection in offshore areas. It continues to provide valuable expertise for the long-term development of heavy oil resources and for increasing reserves and production in the Bohai Sea oil fields.
“The water treatment system for the \"Reheat No.1\" boiler comprises seven categories of equipment, including ultrafiltration, seawater desalination, water softening, deoxidization, and heat exchange – totaling dozens of units. It involves a wide range of components, many different types of equipment, tight deadlines, high technical standards, and there are still numerous technical challenges that need to be overcome. The project team at 704 took on the challenges head-on, adopting a system of responsibility-based, meticulous, and thorough management. Leveraging its strong technical innovation capabilities and expertise in system development in the field of seawater desalination, it carefully planned the strategies and organized efforts to overcome technical difficulties. Images: Deaerator equipment. In May this year, the project team at Institute 704 completed the development and delivery of equipment such as deaeration skids, ultrafiltration skids, reverse osmosis skids, and heat exchange skids, after which they proceeded with on-site installation and commissioning. Faced with the challenges encountered during equipment installation and sea trials, the team members worked together to overcome these difficulties, demonstrating professionalism, dedication, and a strong work ethic. They contributed their efforts and expertise to the successful delivery of the \"Receited No. 1\", earning high praise from the shipowner. “\"Reheat No.1\" was developed by upgrading China’s first domestically designed and built offshore mobile pilot production platform, \"Offshore Oil 162\". The delivery of this platform marks the beginning of a new model for the large-scale, cost-effective, and efficient development of heavy oil in offshore areas in China, and it holds significant strategic importance for ensuring energy security and unlocking new forms of productive capacity.
In our country, heavy oil in marine areas is primarily found in the Bohai Sea. For conventional heavy oil with a viscosity of 350 millipascals/second or less, the oil fields in the Bohai Sea have already identified methods tailored to marine conditions for improving oil recovery through conventional cold extraction techniques. However, for heavy oil with poor fluidity, even as thick as asphalt, scaling up thermal recovery of such oil in offshore areas remains difficult due to constraints such as limited space on offshore platforms, high construction costs, and the great challenges associated with developing heavy oil reservoirs. Image: Since 2008, the Bohai Oil Field has taken thermal recovery as a breakthrough point to establish the Nanbao 35-2 Oil Field multi-thermal fluid pumping test area, where a series of pilot tests were carried out to develop an economically efficient development technology system with the characteristics of CNOOC. In 2020, the Luda 21-2 platform, China’s first large-scale demonstration facility for the thermal recovery of extra-heavy oil at sea, was put into operation successfully. It enabled large-scale, safe, and efficient thermal recovery of heavy oil at sea, marking a historic breakthrough in thermal recovery technology for such oil – one that took it from an abstract concept to practical application. Following a step-by-step approach from simpler to more complex tasks, researchers expanded their focus from marginal water zones to bottom water zones, and from thin reservoir layers to thicker ones. The methods of heat injection evolved from cyclic production techniques to steam flooding and hot water flooding. As a result, more than 10 technical systems for heavy oil recovery were developed, including systems for rapid decision-making and evaluation in heat recovery processes, new multi-functional heat injection equipment, and underground high-temperature safety control systems. A specialized team for heat recovery operations was established, capable of handling task planning, implementation, and production management. The technical, production, and management systems related to heat recovery continued to improve, enabling the transition from individual well trials in the past to large-scale development today.