Sep 13, 2021
China unveils world’s first smart deepwater drilling platform
On September 9th, the world’s first intelligent deep-water drilling platform “Deep Blue Exploration” was independently designed and built by China National Offshore Oil Corporation（A.K.A. CNOOC） was successfully drilled into the Pearl River Mouth Basin located in the South China Sea.
It is the world’s latest semi-submersible drilling platform tailored for the South China Sea deepwater oil and gas exploration and development. It adapts to the complex hydrological and climatic environment of the South China Sea. It houses the important task of the development of oil and gas exploration in the South China Sea’s mid-deep waters region, high temperature and high-pressure formations, and ultra-deep buried formations.
Weiguo Zhang, General Manager of Deepwater Engineering Technology Center of CNOOC Shenzhen Branch, introduced that “Deep Blue Exploration” has a maximum operating water depth of 3,280 feet and a maximum drilling depth of 30,000 feet. It integrates the performance advantages of traditional mooring drilling platforms and modern dynamic positioning platforms. It is the first drilling platform to obtain the DNV smart certification.
The current exploratory well is located about 754,593 feet southeast of Hong Kong, with a water depth of 1,213 feet, and is located close to the Liuhua 16–2 oilfield group, the first self-operated deep-water oilfield group in China.
Songmin Zhou, general manager of COSL Drilling Division, revealed that “Deep Blue Exploration” is equipped with a brand-new self-developed “intelligent operation and maintenance system” platform.
This system houses intelligent integration functions such as “perception, analysis, and decision-making”, which collect production operation and maintenance data in real-time and actualize the cloud-based process of remote collaboration and optimize decision-making.
The platform is equipped with an intelligent blowout preventer system, which can automatically cut and close in extreme cases to ensure safety and reliability.
The platform can satisfy the simultaneous operation of main and auxiliary wellheads. Compared with the conventional single wellhead mode, increasing the comprehensive operation efficiency by 35%. “The entry of this platform has further enhanced China’s oil and gas exploration and development capabilities in medium and deep water.”
