China sets seal on building milestone deepwater oil-gas equipment

China has achieved a major milestone in self-building capacity on all types of deepwater oil and gas equipment as it set the seal on the secondary development project on Tuesday.

China's largest offshore oil producer China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) on Tuesday announced that the Liuhua Oilfield secondary development project, the first in China, has completed all offshore debugging process and entered the final stage of preparation before production, as Asia's first cylindrical oil-gas facility Haikui No. 1 and the record-breaking deepwater jacket structure Haiji-2 passing the mechanical acceptance.

China's pioneering cylindrical floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, Haikui No.1, marks a breakthrough in the nation's deep-water, ultra-large offshore oil and gas equipment development.

The home-grown Haiji-2 jacket have set Asian records for structure height, weight, operational depth and construction speed.

Located 240 kilometers southeast of Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, Liuhua Oilfield is China's first deepwater oilfield, with an operating water depth of 324 meters and proven geological reserves of more than 100 million tonnes.

It is the first time in China that the project adopted the "deepwater jacket platform plus cylinder FPSO" development mode. In this mode, the deepwater jacket drilling platform will extract crude oil, which will be then sent to the cylinder FPSO facility after pretreatment and processed into qualified crude oil for storage and transportation.

"The innovative structural design of Haiji-2 and Haikui No. 1 has broken the previous monopoly of foreign companies and developed several pioneering technologies, including those on S420 ultra-high strength steel welding, cylindrical FPSO hull design and large-scale marine jacket digital twin health management system, as well as new domestic design standards. It enables China to achieve a breakthrough from zero to one in many design technologies," said Wang Huoping, deputy manager of CNOOC Liuhua Oilfield secondary development project.

With a weight of 37,000 tonnes and a height of nearly 30 stories, Haikui No. 1 has a maximum oil storage capacity of 60,000 tonnes, and it can operate continuously at sea for 15 years without returning to dock.

With a height of 428 meters and a weight of over 50,000 tonnes, Haiji-2 is the most advanced deepwater jacket platform in Asia.

"The project team has overcome 25 key technical challenges, including the design, construction, installation and debugging of ultra-large deepwater jacket platform and cylindrical FPSO equipment. We have comprehensively mastered the integrated technology set of deepwater oil and gas engineering at a depth of over 300 meters, enabling China to independently design and manufacture different types of deepwater oil and gas equipment according to different conditions of oilfields and sea areas," said Shu Wei, project manage of Liuhua Oilfield with Offshore Oil Engineering Co., Ltd.

China sets seal on building milestone deepwater oil-gas equipment

Taoiseach of Ireland Micheal Martin, who wrapped up his five-day official visit to China, has praised China's progress in areas such as digital economy and green energy, saying Ireland is willing to deepen economic and trade cooperation with China in emerging sectors while enhancing cooperation on multilateral affairs.

It is Martin's first visit to China since taking office and the first by an Irish prime minister in 14 years.

Speaking during a joint interview with Chinese media outlets in Beijing, Martin spoke positively of the steady development of bilateral relations in recent years, highlighting closer people-to-people exchanges and growing ties in higher education.

"We now have a direct flight between Dublin and China and that's very important in terms of people to people. Our education links are very strong and we have many partnerships between Irish higher education institutions and Chinese higher education institutions and that's important," he said.

Martin said economic and trade ties remain a key pillar underpinning the sound development of bilateral relations.

He recalled that bilateral trade has seen exponential growth since his first visit to China 20 years ago, when he served as minister for enterprise, trade and employment.

Looking ahead, he expressed expectations for expanded cooperation with China in such emerging fields as digital economy and green transition.

"We will be embarking on a major investment in offshore renewables over the next decade. We already are in the planning process. It's a windy island, so we have a lot of wind to harness for energy. So we do see opportunities in AI as well. Ireland is a very strong location for investment, as a member of the European Union, the only English-speaking country now in the Eurozone and in the European Union. And it's a good access point to the European consumer market. We believe there's a greater opportunity for Chinese companies to locate in Ireland," he said.

As Ireland is set to assume the rotating presidency of the European Union (EU) in the second half of 2026, Martin said Ireland adopts a pragmatic policy towards China within the EU and stays committed to promoting a EU-China relationship framework that effectively manages differences while expanding mutually beneficial cooperation.

"What is important is that we continue to dialogue and see can we develop frameworks of agreement on the big picture. The WTO is also very important forum for resolving trade issues. Both Europe and China would acknowledge that industrial resilience, economic security issues are important issues, but that has to be balanced with an open free trade environment. So we are against tariffs. We think tariffs are ultimately damaging to the world economy," he said.

At the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Martin paid an official visit to China from Jan 4 to 8. In addition to Beijing, he also visited Shanghai.

Irish Taoiseach sees broader cooperation with China in emerging sectors