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The float-over installation of the topsides of a 15,000-tonne offshore drilling platform was completed on Saturday using a jacket platform, the steel frame supporting the topsides, in south China’s Guangdong Province, according to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).
The Enping 20-4 platform in Enping oilfield, located in the Pearl River Estuary waters, about 200 kilometers southwest of Shenzhen City, set a new record for the country’s installed weight of float-over topsides using dynamic positioning, it added.
The offshore oil platform, a structure with facilities to drill wells and extract oil, was designed, built and installed independently by China, said Liu Huaxiang, general manager at the deepwater engineering construction center of CNOOC Shenzhen Branch.
With 95 meters in length and 40 meters in width, the surface deck of the platform is the size of nine basketball courts. Workers drove 12 steel piles, 145 meters long and 2.4 meters in diameter, into the seabed, going 120 meters deep to ensure that the surface topsides and the jacket, weighing over 27,000 tonnes together, would be able to withstand typhoons.
The float-over installation method used this time doubled the transportation speed of the platform and shortened operation period, according to the CNOOC.
Once operational, the entire oilfield is projected to achieve a peak annual crude oil production of over 3.6 million tonnes, it added.
