The heaviest international offshore oil and gas platform built by China is notable for its embedded advanced technology.
The platform for Saudi Arabia's Marjan oilfield was officially delivered after 34 months of construction in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province on Monday, marking a breakthrough in the country's large-scale offshore oil and gas equipment construction technology.
Weighing the equivalent of around 17,000 vehicles and covering an area of 15 basketball courts, the platform is capable of processing 24 million tons of crude oil annually, enough to power 500 million cars. Despite its immense size, the platform was constructed with cutting-edge technologies.
"The 36-inch crude oil pipeline here utilized domestically-produced inner coating technology. It can not only withstand high levels of hydrogen sulfide, but enable long-term safe service for up to 25 years," said Lu Cuncai, executive deputy manager of Marjan project of China Offshore Oil Engineering Company.
The platform's essential process pipeline spans 33,000 meters, covering the entire structure. The system is supported by 35 pigging ball receivers to ensure the long-term and safe operation of this platform.
According to Lu, the platform was constructed under stringent quality control protocols, with over 2,000 files dedicated to this purpose. Every member of the project team, from quality control staff to welders, was required to pass rigorous examinations.
Additionally, the platform contains over 100,000 components and parts, posing significant challenges for the management of the entire project.
"To manage this massive component weighing around 20,000 tons with thousands of pieces of material and equipment, the project team developed a visual management platform that enables whole-process management and control through digital simulation and twin technologies," said Lu.
The application of this visual intelligent management platform allows for real-time tracking of building materials and construction process, significantly improving the project management efficiency.
China adopts advanced technology to complete heaviest international offshore platform
The Trump administration's decision to impose "reciprocal tariffs" on all trade partners has sparked panic among investors, sending all three major U.S. stock indices into sharp declines on Thursday, with European stock markets also seeing significant losses, while the U.S. Dollar Index dropped substantially.
As of the close on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 1,679.39 points to 40,545.93, down 3.98 percent, marking its largest single-day decline since June 2020.
The S and P 500 lost 274.45 points to settle at 5,396.52 points, a 4.84 percent decrease, its biggest drop since June 2020. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite fell 1,050.44 points to 16,550.61 points, down 5.97 percent, marking its largest single-day fall since March 2020.
The sell-off was widespread, with key individual stocks also taking a hit. Nike saw a steep 14 percent drop in its share price, while Apple fell by 9 percent. Bank stocks were under heavy pressure, with Western Alliance Bank dropping nearly 16 percent, Citigroup losing about 12 percent, and Bank of America slipping 11 percent.
In the small-cap segment, the Russell 2000 Index saw a notable decline of more than 6 percent. Compared to its peak in November of last year, the index has now dropped over 20 percent, entering a technical bear market.
This marks a stark contrast to the surge seen after the U.S. presidential election, when small-cap stocks were seen as beneficiaries of deregulation, tax cuts, and tariffs.
UBS analysts warned of the potential long-term economic consequences of the tariffs, suggesting that if they persist, inflation could rise sharply, severely impacting the macroeconomy, and potentially leading to significant deterioration in both U.S. and global economic growth and inflation over the next year.
The firm's U.S. economic team estimates that real GDP could decline by 1.5 to 2 percentage points in 2025, with inflation possibly reaching 5 percent.
Meanwhile, European markets followed suit, with all three major stock indices experiencing losses. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index closed at 8,474.74 points, down 133.74 points, or 1.55 percent, from the previous trading day. The French CAC40 dropped by 259.85 points to 7,598.98 points, a 3.31 percent decrease. In Germany, the DAX Index closed at 21,717.39 points, down 673.45 points, a 3.01 percent drop.
The U.S. Dollar Index, which tracks the greenback against six key currencies, including the euro and the British pound, dropped 1.67 percent to 102.073, while the euro and pound both strengthened as investors sought safer assets amid rising market volatility.
US tariff moves trigger market panic, major indices suffer sharp losses
