Technical staff handle marine seismic exploration and acquisition equipment. Photo: Courtesy of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation

China self-developed marine seismic exploration and acquisition equipment has been officially put into use in the waters located in the Bohai Sea, marking a key step in the country's high-end offshore oil and gas exploration tech to facilitate energy supply, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), the largest offshore oil and gas producer in the country announced on Thursday.

The equipment has enhanced detection of weak signals, obtaining super sensitivity, which can capture the seismic signal undersea equivalent to 1/150 of the sound of a mosquito, as well as describing high-definition oil and gas reservoirs data, according to CNOOC.

Ruan Fuming, an expert from CNOOC said that the equipment combines the advantages of land exploration geophone and ocean hydrophone technology, while incorporating the advantages such as small size which can be deployed flexibly. It has good acquisition capability and its ultra-low frequency sensing ability reaches the highest level of similar products in the world, meaning that it can see clearly oil and gas reservoirs buried thousands of meters deep, according to Ruan.

The seabed seismic exploration represents new offshore oil and gas exploration tech, which can greatly improve the accuracy of oil and gas exploration and development. The equipment of seabed seismic exploration in our country has long time depended on imports, which restricts the process of offshore oil and gas exploration and development, according to the company.

China has been making efforts to develop oil and gas projects to ensure energy supply over recent years.

China's National Energy Administration held a meeting to further promote oil and gas exploration and development on July 19, 2023. In the past five years, oil and gas exploration and development in ocean has been pushed forward to deep water, and the output of offshore crude oil in 2022 reached 58 million tons, becoming the main force to increase the output of crude oil, according to the administration.