China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) has officially launched a groundbreaking new vessel that it hopes to use for offshore exploration. This ship, the Offshore Oil 286, will be able to carry thousands of tons of weight and perform important infrastructural operations up to 3,000 meters (roughly 9,842 feet) underwater. It will be the country's first ship capable of accomplishing numerous varied offshore tasks.
According to the Maritime Executive, the vessel comes equipped with a crane that weighs 400 tons and enables operators to construct, maintain and repair underwater structures. The vessel is especially important to CNOOC because of recent natural gas discoveries in deepwater areas. The ship actually comes from Offshore Oil Engineering, a CNOOC affiliate, as opposed to the company itself.
The source quotes a CNOOC press release, which referenced some of the sites the company has focused on. It also says that the new ship reportedly cost 1 billion Yuan, the equivalent of more than $160 million.
"Domestic, overseas and unconventional fields all bloomed, a series of fat gas structures were assessed as successful in succession and self-run exploration of deepwater field witnessed great breakthrough, laying solid resource foundation for second leap," the CNOOC said.
As a country, China is expected to consume 88 billion cubic meters of natural gas this winter alone, national news source CCTV states. The country's suppliers have had to increase the national supply by more than 6 billion cubic meters to meet these expectations. All the same, a representative of China National Petroleum told the source that the industry is on track to produce more than 120 billion cubic inches within the next five years.
Increasing resource demands and future technological developments make oilfield insurance and craft insurance equally important for industry players around the world.