On October 3, “Haikui-1″—Asia’s first cylindrical floating production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) facility—successfully completed its 53rd crude oil offloading operation just over two years after commencing production.
The cumulative crude oil production and export volume of the Liuhua Oilfield redevelopment project has surpassed 2 million tonnes. This milestone demonstrates that the redevelopment model for China’s mature deepwater oilfields has withstood the test of continuous production, providing a replicable practical example for the profitable development and production optimization of complex deepwater reservoirs.
The Liuhua Oilfield is located in the Pearl River Mouth Basin of the South China Sea, at an average water depth of approximately 305 meters, and comprises two oilfields: Liuhua 11-1 and Liuhua 4-1.
The project relies on the coordinated operations of the “Haikui-1” FPSO, the “Haiji-2” platform, and the subsea production system, establishing a fully self-controlled deepwater production chain covering “subsea oil extraction—platform pretreatment—FPSO deep processing, storage, and offloading.” The project has already put 32 production wells into operation, with peak daily crude oil output reaching 3,900 tons.
The Liuhua Oilfield is China’s first deepwater oilfield and the country’s largest offshore reef-limestone oilfield in terms of proven geological reserves. Deepwater reef-limestone reservoirs are globally recognized as being among the most challenging to develop; after more than 20 years of production, the recovery rate remains below 20%, with approximately 140 million tonnes of reserves yet to be tapped.
The cumulative crude oil offloading volume of “Haikui-1” has surpassed 2 million tons, marking the successful validation of the “deepwater jacket platform + cylindrical FPSO” development model under real-world conditions characterized by long-term operation, high loads, and complex sea states. This achievement establishes a mature, reliable, replicable, and scalable “Chinese solution” for deepwater oil and gas development.