The heaviest international offshore oil and gas platform built by China, weighing 17,000 tonnes, was officially delivered after 34 months of construction in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province on Monday, marking a breakthrough in the country's large-scale offshore oil and gas equipment construction technology.
At the end of this month, the platform will be transported by a large cargo ship to its installation site, 6,400 nautical miles away, in the waters of Saudi Arabia. The platform is mainly responsible for collecting extracted offshore oil and gas and transporting it to land for processing. It consists of complex equipment such as large manifolds, pipeline cleaning, chemical treatment, and operation control.
The deck area of the giant platform is equivalent to 15 standard basketball courts and the height of the platform is higher than that of a 24-story residential building. The massive structure can collect and transport 24 million tonnes of crude oil and 7.4 billion cubic meters of gas every year, with platform scale, pipeline types and sizes, and system complexity all setting records on similar international platforms.
"We independently developed an intelligent management platform, innovated an integrated and visual construction model, and widely applied advanced methods such as automatic welding of composite materials and phased array ultrasonic inspection to improve management and address technical problems. Our management efficiency, construction efficiency, quality pass rate, and safety performance have reached the world's advanced level," said Liu Rui, general manager of COOEC International Engineering Company.
The platform will be installed in the waters of Saudi Arabia to help the Marjan oilfield increase its production capacity. After the Marjan oilfield is fully operational, the annual crude oil production will reach 24 million tonnes.
China-built largest international offshore oil platform delivered
China-built largest international offshore oil platform delivered
Switzerland, known for its pristine lakes and rich tradition of fishing, is facing a significant challenge of plunging fish stocks that could threaten the livelihood of many in the fisheries industry.
In recent years, local fishermen have seen their catches decline drastically, with about 90 percent of the fish consumed in the country now being imported. This shift reflects broader environmental changes impacting Swiss fisheries, and the difficulties local fishermen are enduring are becoming more evident each year.
At seven in the morning, as the first light of dawn begins to break, a handful of fishermen at a dock in Geneva prepare to head out to the lake to check the nets they set the previous day. As the long nets were hauled from the water, the catch of perch was relatively small, but the fishermen were still satisfied, especially since they managed to net two large pike, which would fetch a good price.
Francois Liani, a fisherman of 30 years, said 2024 has been the worst year for fishing with the lowest amount of catch.
"I have never seen anything like this in over 30 years. That's right, 2024 is the worst year in the past 30 years," he said.
Fifty years ago, there were more than 800 professional fishermen in Switzerland. Today, that number has dropped to fewer than 90.
"There are many reasons, but one of the most important reasons is global warming -- it is one of the biggest problems. We have also new mussels that come from the Black Sea on the Eastern Europe that came about five, seven years ago. They have a large impact on the food availability for the fishes," said Maxime Prevedello, communication officer for the French-speaking region of the Swiss Fishing Federation (SFV).
As a result, the growth rate of fish has slowed significantly. In 2012, 2013, and 2014, a professional fisherman was able to catch around 1,000 tons of fish annually. Today, that number has dropped to just around 100 tons -- a mere one-tenth of what it used to be, according to Prevedello.
In the summer of 2024, Switzerland once again endured high temperatures. Native fish species such as perch, grayling, and the Alpine char, which have adapted to cold water, have been particularly affected. According to Switzerland's environmental authorities, 58 percent of the country's native fish species are now classified as endangered.
Swiss fishermen face growing struggle as local fish stocks plunge
