On March 6, the 100,000-ton cylindrical FPSO (Floating Production Storage and Offloading Unit) of the Kaiping South Oilfield Development Project (hereinafter referred to as the “Kaiping Project”), undertaken by CNOOC, commenced construction at its Qingdao Base.
This is Asia’s largest cylindrical offshore oil and gas production facility, designed and constructed independently by China. The successful implementation of this project will significantly enhance China’s self-reliance in deepwater ultra-large oil and gas equipment, providing critical equipment support for accelerating the economic and efficient development of deep-sea oil and gas resources.
Compared to the Haikui No.1, which commenced production in 2024, the Kaiping project’s FPSO demands higher standards in overall construction difficulty, technical complexity, and precision control. The complexity of its subsea production system sets a new domestic record.
The Kaiping South Oilfield, located in the eastern South China Sea, boasts proven geological reserves exceeding 100 million tons, making it China’s largest independently discovered oilfield in deepwater areas.
The Kaiping project area features deepwater, new-block, and deep-reservoir development characteristics with complex geological reservoir conditions. Development implementation adopts a dynamic strategy of “developing while gaining understanding and making adjustments,” imposing extremely high demands on the adaptability, reliability, and safety of development equipment. An innovative cylindrical FPSO full-offshore-mode high-efficiency development technology system has been established, comprising a “surface hub + subsea well network.”
The project will construct a new 100,000-ton cylindrical FPSO, supporting subsea pipelines and over 30 subsea production trees. With a full load displacement exceeding 170,000 tons and a maximum oil storage capacity of 122,000 cubic meters, this FPSO ranks second globally. It will hold the world’s largest hull weight, main deck, and process deck outer diameter. Upon completion, it will become Asia’s largest cylindrical “floating offshore oil and gas processing plant” in terms of size and weight, with the strongest oil and gas processing and storage capacity.