On April 11, Wuhu Shipyard held a groundbreaking ceremony for the world's largest and China's first large-scale fracturing vessel "Haiyang Shiyou 696" built by China National Offshore Oil Co., Ltd., marking the new progress made by the mainland in the field of offshore oilfield fracturing technology. The ship will be delivered in 2025.
Fan Baitao, Chief Engineer of the Engineering Technology Department of CNOOC, Yu Guimin, Deputy General Manager of CNOOC (China) Co., Ltd. Tianjin Branch, Fan Qiang of China Classification Society, Zhang Zhao, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Wuhu Shipyard Co., Ltd., and nearly 100 representatives of various partners witnessed this historic moment.
Independently developed and designed by Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute, a subsidiary of China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC), the "Haiyang Shiyou 696" is an integrated integrated fracturing vessel with a high degree of integration, automation, digitalization and intelligence, and its overall performance has reached the world's advanced level. With a total length of 99.8 meters, a width of 22 meters and a depth of 9.9 meters, the ship will meet the new needs of large-scale fracturing operations in the whole sea area of the mainland, multi-well batch fracturing operations in the sea, as well as gas wells and ultra-deep fracturing operations, and fill the gap in the fracturing technology and engineering field of offshore oilfields in the mainland, which is of great strategic significance.
The ship has strong fracturing operation ability, high degree of integration, superior propulsion performance, high degree of automation and green intelligence, with large displacement, high power and large storage capacity of safe operation capabilities, is China's first integrated offshore oilfield fracturing engineering ship, and its overall performance has reached the world's leading level. This type of vessel is mainly used for the exploitation of potential reserves in offshore low-permeability oil and gas fields, which can maximize the controlled reserves, cumulative production and overall recovery rate of a single well, and achieve the purpose of stable production and increased production.
At the groundbreaking ceremony, Zhang Zhao, chairman of Wuhu Shipyard, delivered a speech, pointing out that the shipbuilding industry is known as the "crown of comprehensive industry", highlighting the comprehensive industrial strength of a country. China's shipbuilding industry has ranked first in the world for 14 consecutive years, and China has become the only country in the world that has achieved comprehensive growth in the three major indicators. In the face of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, Wuhu Shipyard, which has a history of 100 years, seized the opportunity, with the vision and courage of "shipbuilding for the country", from the export of products to the export of industrial capacity, and opened up a new route of globalization in the global market. The first 22,000-ton LNG dual-fuel diesel-electric hybrid propulsion chemical tanker built in 2021 won the European "2021 Oil Tanker of the Year" award, the second won the title of "Top Ten Innovative Products of China's Shipbuilding Industry" in 2022, and the resumption of shipbuilding of this series of ships started again in December last year, and the 21,500-ton dual-fuel asphalt/product oil tanker built in the same year won the Singapore Green Initiative Award, once again demonstrating the exquisite skills and excellent strength of Wuhu Shipyard. With rich construction experience, batch and large-scale construction strength and compatible and interconnected resource integration capabilities, Wuhu Shipyard has the ability, confidence and determination to deliver better ships for the shipbuilding and jointly realize the national energy development strategy!
Yu Guimin, deputy general manager of CNOOC (China) Co., Ltd. Tianjin Branch (hereinafter referred to as CNOOC), said that CNOOC, as a state-owned energy backbone enterprise with offshore oil and gas exploration and development as its main business, has always practiced the national strategy, cared about the "needs of the country", ensured national energy security, accelerated the exploration and development of deep-sea oil and gas resources, and built a maritime power.
Focusing on the goal of building a large-scale fracturing ship into a high-quality brand project with demonstration effect and driving effect, the two parties will work together to win the battle of early delivery of the fracturing ship under the guidance of party building, safety first, and fine management.
It is understood that the fracturing ship is mainly used for the exploitation of potential reserves in offshore low-permeability oil and gas fields to achieve the purpose of stabilizing and increasing production. When the drilling is completed, the bottom of the wellbore is injected with high-pressure acid (acidizing fracturing) or sand-bearing fluid (sand fracturing) into the wellbore, so that the bottomhole pressure exceeds the formation rupture pressure, and a series of fractures are artificially created in the reservoir within a certain range of the wellbore, so that the oil and gas in the reservoir can flow into the wellbore through these gaps and be produced out of the surface. The fractures of fracturing have a certain width, and the resistance of oil and gas when flowing in them is small, which is equivalent to a "highway" in the reservoir.
Generally speaking, the fracturing ship is equivalent to a professional player with super fracturing ability, which can flexibly sail to the target platform for fracturing operations, and maximize the controlled reserves, cumulative production and overall recovery rate of a single well. For platforms with limited deck area, especially unmanned platforms, large-scale fracturing operations are no longer difficult with fracturing vessels.
For a long time, offshore oilfield fracturing technology has been monopolized by a few European and American countries, and the mainland has been strictly blocked. "Haiyang Shiyou 696" fills the gap in the field of green and intelligent chemical tanker manufacturing in the mainland, and will be used for large-scale fracturing operations in the whole sea area of the mainland, multi-well batch fracturing operations in the sea, as well as gas wells and ultra-deep fracturing operations.