Under the waves of the Pearl River Mouth Basin, the sleeping oil and gas treasure is being awakened again. Enping 24-2 Oilfield adopts an innovative approach of in-situ installation of new modules to graft new production capacity onto old platforms without stopping production, allowing old offshore oil fields to break through bottlenecks and rejuvenate in water depths of up to 100 meters.

With the successful production of the first expansion and adjustment well in Enping 24-2 oilfield, China's first 100 meter water depth oil and gas in-situ expansion platform has been officially put into operation, opening up a new technological path for stable production and efficiency improvement, as well as tapping into existing reserves in old offshore oil fields.

Overview of project location

The in situ expansion platform of Enping 24-2 Oilfield put into use this time is located in the sea area of the Pearl River Mouth Basin, about 200 kilometers southwest of Shenzhen. The operating water depth is close to 100 meters. It is a key project for the transformation and upgrading of deep-sea old oil fields.

Innovative expansion mode

This project innovatively adopts the construction method of in-situ installation of new modules on the old platform, accurately installing a new operating platform without stopping production or renovating the original production system. The platform has added 12 new well slots and can deploy 16 adjustment wells, effectively solving the development problem of traditional platform well saturation and limited production capacity, and revitalizing the remaining oil and gas resources of the oilfield.

The project has tackled multiple core offshore technologies, successfully overcoming technical difficulties such as precise docking of large offshore modules, compatibility between new and old platform systems, and safety assurance of structures at a depth of 100 meters. It has also pioneered multiple domestic construction processes, including shared use of single drilling rigs and dual platforms, and V-shaped displacement of 40 ton cranes, filling the gap in in-situ expansion technology for deep-sea oil fields in China.

Project Value Advantage

Enping 24-2 Oilfield, as the main production oilfield in the the Pearl River Mouth Basin, has produced more than 12 million tons of crude oil since it was put into production in October 2014. After more than ten years of development, the original platform operating space and drilling well locations have become saturated, and a large amount of remaining oil and gas reserves are difficult to efficiently develop and utilize, resulting in bottlenecks in capacity improvement.

Compared to the construction of new offshore platforms, the in-situ expansion mode has a shorter construction period, lower investment costs, and does not affect the normal production and operation of the oilfield throughout the entire process. This project forms a mature technology system for the transformation of old oil fields, providing replicable and promotable demonstration solutions for revitalizing existing resources and improving quality and efficiency in China's offshore old oil fields.Editor/Gong Ziwei