By Staff Reporters

The Ocean Oil 163. (PHOTO: CNOOC)

Nicked named "Little Bee," Ocean Oil 163, China's first independently designed and built offshore wellhead platform, which is mobile and self-elevated, began production at the Weizhou12-8E oil field in the Beibu Gulf of the South China Sea on April 8, according to the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

The operation of the Little Bee marked China's breakthrough in its capability of exploring marginal oil fields in the sea.

Marginal oil fields usually refer to small or medium sized oil fields of thin storage layers, with complicated structures or in remote locations. These fields can hardly be explored via normal approaches, and the evaluation of their economic benefits is relatively low or they cannot produce the expected profit.

"Sticking to the key element of exploration and economy, we proposed the 'mobile + integrated' idea for exploring marginal oil fields in the sea. Based on this, we designed and built the Little Bee, realizing the economic and effective exploration in the eastern district of Weizhou12-8E oil field," said Fan Caiwei, manager of exploration and development at CNOOC Zhanjiang Branch.

Different from traditional fixed jacket wellhead platforms, the Little Bee can be lifted up and down, moved and used repeatedly. "After finishing the current production task, the platform can be lowered to the sea surface and dragged by a tug boat to the next workplace to continue the exploration work. This could enhance the utilization rate of equipment to the maximum, and greatly cut the cost of oil field exploration," said Huang Peng, leader of the platform.

The eastern district of Weizhou12-8E oil field, where the platform is located, can produce crude oil of around 1,300 tons per day at its peak, with an accumulated yield increase of over 800,000 tons. The successful exploration of the oil field signified that the bee-like oil exploration technologies are becoming more established, laying a solid foundation for China's ability in the exploration of marginal oil fields in the ocean.