The Offshore Oil 981 drilling platform, a sixth-generation ultra-deepwater rig that was developed by state-owned shipbuilder China State Shipbuilding Corp for CNOOC, has started deepwater operations in the South China Sea, which officials said would supply liquefied natural gas to the “Greater Bay Area”. The well is 4,660 metres deep, with a true vertical depth – or the distance in a straight line from the surface to the bottom of the borehole – of 2,529 metres. Han Xiaoping, chief analyst at energy industry website china5e.com, said “This is a breakthrough for China, because it was very challenging for CNOOC to drill a well with such a depth [for the first time].” Once the rig starts production, LNG from the well will be transported to CNOOC’s gas terminal at Gaolan port in Zhuhai, Guangdong province and it will supply energy to a population of 70 million in the Greater Bay Area, comprising Hong Kong and Macau with the southern cities of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing. CNOOC did not say when production would begin.
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