A view of CNOOC's Dongfang oil and gas fields, China's first smart offshore gas field cluster [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced completion of the Dongfang oil and gas fields, China's first smart offshore gas field cluster on April 29.
With the main production facilities located in the Yingge Sea of South China's Hainan Province, the Dongfang gas field cluster, consisting of 10 offshore production platforms, an onshore processing terminal and several oil and gas offshore pipelines, is expected to produce more than 5.7 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually and will be the main energy source for domestic and industrial use in Hainan.
Tang Guangrong, deputy general manager of CNOOC's branch in Hainan, said that the operation of the smart gas field cluster can be realized by remote control and delivery of various kinds of gases can be done rapidly, which greatly improves production efficiency.
Workers' safety, as well as a stable gas supply, aided by application of robotic machines, can be guaranteed at the project even in extreme weather.
The smart systems improve gas distribution and dispatch by a factor of nearly 10, and the inspection robots and the real-time monitoring devices are more accurate than the traditional manual inspection.
According to the company, the smart production control center at the cluster integrates the internet of things, big data and artificial intelligence. It will promote restructuring of the offshore gas business, optimize management procedures and improve management efficiency.
Cui Rong, managing director of the Dongfang oil and gas fields, said that the production control center is the central pivot and brain of the entire smart gas field cluster, and supervises production conditions in the cluster.
The center can not only supervise high-risk operations but also rectify potential hazards, monitor all mechanical equipment with fault diagnosis capability and collate production data to enable collaborative production of various gas fields.
So far, CNOOC has 29 offshore platforms undergoing unmanned renovation.
The photo shows an inspection robot at the Dongfang oil and gas fields. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)
