【Major Equipment in the Chemical Engineering Sector】240 – China’s underwater oil and gas production systems are used for the first time in Yinggehai, Hainan, with domestic-made components

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Red May for chemical industry workers! Reply reward! ---------------------------------------------- The past decade has been a period of rapid development in China’s chemical industry, marked by the emergence of many new processes, products, and equipment. There has also been significant progress in China’s chemical processing equipment, which has contributed to the swift advancement of the petrochemical sector. Here, we have compiled some of the achievements and breakthroughs made by Chinese equipment manufacturers in terms of larger-scale production and greater use of domestic equipment. We invite everyone to share their insights and discuss these topics together; let’s cheer for Made in China and support the development of chemical processing equipment! ===================== On May 11, China’s first domestically produced deep-water subsea production tree was installed underwater in the Yinggehai sea area of Hainan. This device is an important part of the engineering demonstration project for subsea oil and gas production systems, led by CNOOC, and it marks a significant step forward in the development of key technical equipment for deep-water oil and gas exploration in China. An underwater production system is a key equipment for developing deep-water oil and gas fields, including devices such as underwater wellheads, underwater production trees, underwater control systems, and underwater manifolds. For a long time, only 5 European and American companies worldwide have possessed the technology for designing and building underwater production systems, which has resulted in long procurement times, high costs, and difficulties in maintenance for such equipment. The 500-meter-class underwater oil and gas production system demonstration project carried out by CNOOC this time marks that China now possesses the capability to design, construct, and apply such complete sets of equipment. This subsea production system will be used to develop the gas reservoirs surrounding the Ledong platform in the Dongfang 1-1 gas field; the gas wells equipped with this system can produce approximately 200 million cubic meters of natural gas per year. Liu Shujie, chief engineer of CNOOC Hainan Branch, said that with the adoption of this underwater production system, costs have been reduced by approximately 27% compared to before. It not only enables the effective development of oil and gas reservoirs that are located around existing facilities and for which independent platform development would be uneconomical, but it also significantly reduces the costs associated with deep-water oil and gas exploration and development. This is of great significance for accelerating oil and gas exploration and development in the country and improving energy self-sufficiency. Since underwater production systems are typically required to operate without maintenance for 20 years, operating at a depth of 500 meters means that the equipment has to withstand 50 times the normal atmospheric pressure, as well as prolonged exposure to temperatures below 6 degrees Celsius and seawater corrosion. These severe environmental conditions pose world-class technical challenges regarding the sealing strength of the equipment, the pressure resistance of its materials, and the quality of the manufacturing process. Xie Yuhong, the chief scientist at CNOOC and the project leader of this research initiative, explained that in order to develop this key technical equipment, CNOOC led a collaboration with 16 other organizations including Chongqing Qianwei of CSSC to work on various key technologies related to underwater production, control, and monitoring. Building on years of technical expertise, it took 36 months to master the techniques required for design, manufacturing, and testing. “To ensure the reliability and functionality of this equipment, we conducted various performance tests in accordance with the strictest international standards, including pressure tests both inside and outside the device, high and low temperature cycle tests, vibration tests, as well as land-based integration tests and sea trials – all of which were successful. ”An Weizheng, the person in charge of underwater overall design at CNOOC Research Institute, said, “All tests were witnessed by authoritative third-party parties in the industry, laying a solid foundation for the industrial application of this system.” ”Xie Yuhong said that only by breaking through in the development of deep-water subsea production systems can we keep the key to deep-sea oil and gas exploration and development firmly in our own hands. In the future, CNOOC will continue to focus on developing original and cutting-edge technologies, using equipment with independent intellectual property rights to exploit marine oil and gas resources, and strive to make greater contributions to ensuring **energy security.