Deep Sea No.1 Photo: Courtesy of China National Offshore Oil Corporation

China's Deep Sea No.1 ultra-deepwater gas field near Hainan Province conducted a trial of remote-control operations on Monday, enabling the field to continue safe and stable production during typhoons, its operator China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) said.

The field has become the world's first 100,000-ton-level deepwater semi-submersible production and storage platform that can work in extreme weather and at a maximum depth of 1,500 meters.

With the remote-control function, the Deep Sea No.1 can increase annual gas production by more than 60 million cubic meters, which can meet the annual gas demand of 470,000 Chinese households, according to a statement sent from the CNOOC to the Global Times on Monday. 

The remote operation of the Deep Sea No.1 was the first step for building an intelligent deep-sea gas field system, which will enhance China's comprehensive oil and gas extraction ability and self-reliance in relevant fields, said CNOOC.

The field has conducted multiple explorations of intelligent and digitalized application to deep-sea oil and gas extraction, including sound and light detection equipment and 5G network communications. 

The Deep Sea No.1 is located in the sea near South China's Hainan Province, where the platform often faces challenges from extreme weather in nearby deep sea areas. 

CNOOC said that the research team assessed a series of indicators recorded during the platform's operation in extreme weather conditions, and made more than 270 improvements to realize remote operation.

In addition, data produced during the operation of the platform including ship management, gas reserve monitoring and deep-sea operation visualization, will be shared with domestic and overseas research institutes and universities, in order to enhance China's advantage in deep-sea oil and gas extraction, read the statement.

The Deep Sea No.1 gas field went into operation in June 2021, with an annual production capacity of natural gas of 3 billion cubic meters. It has produced 4.5 billion cubic meters of gas so far. 

The independently developed gas field has solved a number of production and operation problems of ultra-deep water gas fields, and it has created a successful development model of rapid and stable production of natural gas in ultra-deep water gas fields.

Global Times