China builds largest offshore drilling rig
Source: www.chinamining.org Citation: Global Times Date: March 6, 2017
China has broken the world record again by building the largest offshore ultra-deep water drilling platform, which is also able to drill to the deepest depths of the sea, China Central Television reported.
The semi-submersible drilling platform named Blue Whale 1 was manufactured by Yantai CIMC Raffles Offshore Limited (CIMC Raffles). It weighs 42,000 tons with a deck as large as a standard soccer field.
At a height of 118 meters, equal to a 37-story building, the platform cost $700 million.
The platform has a maximum operating depth of 3,658 meters and a maximum drilling depth of 15,240 meters respectively, the greatest operating and drilling depth in the world. It can operate in deep-sea operations across the world, CIMC Raffles says on its website. Its electric cable has a pull extension length of 1.2 million meters.
It is the first "turn-key project," which is completed and can be sold to any buyer, by a Chinese shipbuilder in the ultra-deep water field.
Blue Whale 1 was named and delivered to its project owner based in Yantai, a port city of East China`s Shandong Province on February 13.
The platform will be jointly operated by Blue Whale and CNPC Offshore Engineering Co. Ltd for ocean energy exploration according to a previously signed service agreement between the two sides.
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