China-headquartered submarine cable owner and operator Fulan Offshore has crossed the finish line at an oil field project in the Bohai Sea with one of its cable-laying barges (CLBs), which has previously worked on offshore wind projects.

According to the Chinese player, its CLB Ailan YiHao (AL-1) undertook its first work in the oil and gas industry by completing the installation of a submarine cable for Jinzhou 23-2 oil field development project. As the total length of the 35 kV composite cable is about 41 kilometers, this is seen as by far the longest single-length inter-platform link in Bohai Bay.

According to China State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC)This oil field development project is the first offshore multi-layer heavy oil thermal recovery project in the Asian country. Construction began in Qingdao, north China’s Shandong province, on August 4, 2023. Drilling activities followed suit in May 2024.

When it comes online, the project will meet the needs of 1 million for 3.5 years. The Jinzhou 23-2 oil field, located in the Liaodong Gulf of the Bohai Sea, is said to have a “layered cake” structure of multiple layers of sand-rich heavy oil reservoirs.

With a project area of ​​about 3,600 square meters and a weight of about 16,000 tons, the two thermal recovery platforms under construction in Qingdao are about 31 meters high, representing – what has been described as – the largest offshore heavy oil thermal. recovery platforms built in China to date.

Construction of the thermal recovery platforms for the project was scheduled to be completed by October 2024, with full-scale production expected by the end of the same year after the platforms arrive at the Jinzhou 23-2 oil field in the Bohai Sea.

Four months ago, the same vessel tucked another milestone under its belt with a 330kV high-voltage alternating current (HVAC) cable installation, thanks to a job for Yangjiang Qingzhou-6 OWF export cable construction in Guangdong province. This is described as the largest offshore wind project in China, which is being developed by China Three Gorges Corporationa Chinese state-owned electricity company.

The 35 km of simultaneous decommissioning and burial down to a depth of 3-4 m was completed within four days. The on-site inter-array cable installation work is carried out with one of Fulan Offshore’s CLVs. Equipped with the six-point mooring system, Ailan YiHao also completed its cable-laying portion of the operations at Integrated Waste Management Facilities (IWMF) project in Hong Kong.

After Keppel Seghers Hong Kong (Keppel Seghers HK) and Zhen Hua Engineering (Zhen Hua) won the contract to design, build and operate the IWMF project off the coast of Shek Kwu Chau, the former hired the heavy lift specialist Sarens to assist with the barge transport and unloading of over 17 modules from the fabrication yard to the installation site in Hong Kong.

The 17 modules were loaded from COOEC Fluorine Heavy Industries shipyard in China and transported by barge by sea to Hong Kong. These modules included six prefabricated modules weighing 6,000 tonnes each and another six prefabricated modules weighing 2,500 tonnes each, along with five prefabricated modules with a maximum weight of 500 tonnes.

After being loaded onto a newly constructed artificial island in Hong Kong waters, the temporary steel housing surrounding the modules was removed and replaced with the permanent steelwork, followed by installation on the foundations.

The 100.65 meter long, 27.45 meter wide and 6.41 meter deep Ailan No. 1 is a cable laying barge operated by Fulan Offshore and classified by the China Classification Society. Equipped with a cable turntable with a diameter of 26 meters, it can carry up to 6,000 tons of cable.