The photo taken on March 12, 2024, shows the construction site of the Haiji-2 deepwater jacket structure in south China's Guangdong Province. (Photo provided by China National Offshore Oil Corporation)

Construction site of "Haiji No.2" deepwater conduit structure in Guangdong Province, southern China. (Provided by CNOOC)

China has completed the construction of a record-breaking deepwater jacket structure in the southern province of Guangdong, according to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) on Tuesday.

According to the news released by CNOOC, the first deepwater jacket in Asia, "Haiji No. 2", designed and built by China itself, was completed in Zhuhai deepwater equipment manufacturing base in Guangdong.

The 338.5-meter Haiji-2 jacket will operate at an average depth of 324 meters and weighs 37,000 tonnes, breaking Asian records for structure height, weight, operational depth and construction speed, the company said.

The average water depth in the operation area of "Haiji No. 2" is about 324 meters, and the total height of the jacket is 338.5 meters, which exceeds the height of the main building of Beijing International Trade Center Phase III, with a total weight of 37000 tons, breaking many Asian records in terms of structure height, weight, operation depth, and construction speed.

Jackets are constructions affixed to the seabed, serving as foundations for offshore oil and gas production facilities.

Fixed jacket platform is the most widely used offshore oil and gas development equipment in the world.

Haiji-2 utilizes a newly developed 420-megapascal ultra-high-strength steel plate that is considered an innovative and cost-effective lightweight design for large-scale ocean platforms, according to Fu Dianfu at the CNOOC research institute.

"The project team has cooperated with domestic steel enterprises to jointly develop a new type of 420 MPa super high strength steel thick plate suitable for offshore engineering." Fu Dianfu, vice president of the Engineering Research and Design Institute of CNOOC Research Institute, said that the application of S420 high strength steel in "Haiji No.2" exceeded 20000 tons. Through the application of this innovative material, It not only overcame the key technology of lightweight design of super large offshore platforms, but also opened a new way for large-scale application of domestic high-strength steel in offshore engineering.

The jacket also showcases the country's capability of building ultra-large deepwater fixed jackets at depths of over 300 meters, said Wang Huoping, an engineer at the company's Shenzhen branch.

Wang Huoping, the chief engineer of the deepwater engineering construction center of CNOOC Shenzhen Branch, introduced that "Haiji No. 2" successfully raised the application depth of jacket platforms to more than 300 meters for the first time in China, opening up a new way for the economic and effective development of oil and gas resources in China's medium and deep waters.

Haiji-2 is expected to be installed soon at an oilfield in the Pearl River Mouth Basin sea area.

It is understood that "Haiji No. 2" is planned to be installed offshore in the near future. After completion, it will serve as the second development project of Liuhua 11-1/4-1 Oilfield, China's first deep-water oilfield in the Pearl River Mouth Basin, to promote the old deep-water oilfield of 100 million tons to glow with new vitality and inject new energy into the economic and social development of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area.