China's Offshore Oil Exploration Expected to Move Toward Deep Ocean Regions

    The world's sixth-generation 3,000-meter deepwater semi-submersible drilling platform is under assembly in Shanghai. It is a landmark project in China's oceanic engineering equipment manufacturing. This deepwater semi-submersible drilling platform is the first independently designed and built by China, and is currently the most advanced in the world, filling a gap in China's mega-sized deepwater drilling equipment projects.

    The platform is owned by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, and weighs 30,670 tons. It has a deck 114 meters long and 79 meters wide -- the size of a football field. It is 130 meters from the bottom of the ship to the tip of the drilling derrick -- equal to the height of a 43-story building. The total length of the cable is 650 kilometers. The total cost of the project is nearly RMB 6 billion, earning it the nickname the "aircraft carrier of maritime engineering."

The world’s sixth-generation 3,000-meter deepwater semi-submersible drilling platform being assembled at Shanghai Waigaoqiao Shipbuilding Co., Ltd.