China's First Smart Offshore Oil Factory Launches in Tianjin 🚀
Hey there, future-forward friends! Guess what? China just opened its first-ever intelligent manufacturing base for offshore oil and gas equipment, and it's as cool as it sounds! Located in the bustling Tianjin Municipality, this massive facility covers about 575,000 square meters along the beautiful coast of the Bohai Sea 🌊.
So, what's the big deal? Well, this high-tech hub focuses on producing offshore oil and gas platforms and fancy high-end offshore products like liquefied natural gas modules. Built by the China Offshore Oil Engineering Company (COOEC), a subsidiary of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, this place is packed with innovation.
We're talking four smart production workshops, eight production support centers, 16 final assembly stations, and docks ready for mega-sized ships. Plus, it boasts over 600 intelligent production machines! 🤖 Talk about transformation!
Here's where it gets even cooler: Thanks to an intelligent manufacturing management platform, ops like material retrieval, pipe coiling, cutting, and hydraulic bending can now happen with just a click! 💻 According to Wang Lei, a big shot at COOEC's Tianjin branch, producing offshore oil and gas equipment used to be super complicated with tons of customization and non-standard requirements.
\"We developed this smart platform to tackle complex conditions,\" Wang says. \"Now, machines handle most of the heavy lifting, and we only need a few folks for the finer details.\"
The base rolled out in two phases. Phase one kicked off in June 2022, delivering 35 offshore platforms to countries like China and Canada, weighing over 87,000 tonnes! Phase two ramped things up with more assembly stations, an intelligent pipe production line, and beefed-up docks.
Wang spills the tea that the new pipe production line boosted efficiency by about 20%, and the overall factory capacity has doubled thanks to digital smarts and precise management. 📈
Oh, and get this: In 2023, China's offshore crude oil production exceeded 62 million tonnes, marking a 3.4 million tonne increase from the previous year. That's about 70% of the total crude oil production growth in China last year! 🌟
So, whether you're into tech, energy, or just love hearing about big leaps in innovation, this is a story worth following. China's making waves—literally and figuratively—in the offshore oil industry!
Reference(s):
China's first smart factory for offshore oil and gas equipment opens
cgtn.com