China sets seal on building milestone deepwater oil-gas equipment

China has achieved a major milestone in self-building capacity on all types of deepwater oil and gas equipment as it set the seal on the secondary development project on Tuesday.

China's largest offshore oil producer China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) on Tuesday announced that the Liuhua Oilfield secondary development project, the first in China, has completed all offshore debugging process and entered the final stage of preparation before production, as Asia's first cylindrical oil-gas facility Haikui No. 1 and the record-breaking deepwater jacket structure Haiji-2 passing the mechanical acceptance.

China's pioneering cylindrical floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) facility, Haikui No.1, marks a breakthrough in the nation's deep-water, ultra-large offshore oil and gas equipment development.

The home-grown Haiji-2 jacket have set Asian records for structure height, weight, operational depth and construction speed.

Located 240 kilometers southeast of Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, Liuhua Oilfield is China's first deepwater oilfield, with an operating water depth of 324 meters and proven geological reserves of more than 100 million tonnes.

It is the first time in China that the project adopted the "deepwater jacket platform plus cylinder FPSO" development mode. In this mode, the deepwater jacket drilling platform will extract crude oil, which will be then sent to the cylinder FPSO facility after pretreatment and processed into qualified crude oil for storage and transportation.

"The innovative structural design of Haiji-2 and Haikui No. 1 has broken the previous monopoly of foreign companies and developed several pioneering technologies, including those on S420 ultra-high strength steel welding, cylindrical FPSO hull design and large-scale marine jacket digital twin health management system, as well as new domestic design standards. It enables China to achieve a breakthrough from zero to one in many design technologies," said Wang Huoping, deputy manager of CNOOC Liuhua Oilfield secondary development project.

With a weight of 37,000 tonnes and a height of nearly 30 stories, Haikui No. 1 has a maximum oil storage capacity of 60,000 tonnes, and it can operate continuously at sea for 15 years without returning to dock.

With a height of 428 meters and a weight of over 50,000 tonnes, Haiji-2 is the most advanced deepwater jacket platform in Asia.

"The project team has overcome 25 key technical challenges, including the design, construction, installation and debugging of ultra-large deepwater jacket platform and cylindrical FPSO equipment. We have comprehensively mastered the integrated technology set of deepwater oil and gas engineering at a depth of over 300 meters, enabling China to independently design and manufacture different types of deepwater oil and gas equipment according to different conditions of oilfields and sea areas," said Shu Wei, project manage of Liuhua Oilfield with Offshore Oil Engineering Co., Ltd.

China sets seal on building milestone deepwater oil-gas equipment

EU is employing double standards in its electric vehicle (EV) policies, unfairly targeting Chinese EV imports with tariffs and subsidies, according to experts at the 17th Forum on WTO Laws and China opened in Guangzhou City of south China's Guangdong Province on Saturday.

One of the highlights was the release of a blue book titled "The EU's Industrial Subsidy Policy for Lithium Batteries, PV Products and Electric Vehicles in the Name of Green Transition", which claims that while continuing to impose anti-subsidy tariffs on imported Chinese electric cars, the EU is subsidizing domestic EVs, lithium batteries and photovoltaic products.

Shi Xiaoli, the book's lead researcher, claimed that while the EU restricts state aid that might cause market distortions, numerous exemptions still exist, which ultimately allows subsidies across these three sectors.

"For example, one of the exemptions is that even if a subsidy in a certain country distorts the EU market, even significantly, if it still aligns with the EU's long-term common interests, it can remain. The scope of European common interest projects is continuously expanding, and it includes these three industries," said Shi Xiaoli, Director, WTO Law Research Center.

The book reveals that EU member states heavily subsidize electric vehicles, with substantial support covering the entire industrial chain.

At the same time, the EU has recently introduced new tariffs of up to 35 percent on imported Chinese EVs. That's in addition to the existing 10 percent duty, which some experts deemed as counterproductive.

"We believe this policy is discriminatory. The EU acknowledges that Chinese electric vehicles have caused no harm to its EV sector. The EU's trade protectionist measures are in fact more detrimental to itself. While it may protect its market in the short term, once these measures are lifted, its technology and other aspects may fall even further behind," said Sun Xiaohong, secretary-general of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electronic Products (CCCME).

A lawyer at the event argued that the EU's actions are not typical trade measures, but an attempt to curb China's EV sector growth.

"Subsidies for emerging industries exist in every country, including the United States and the European Union. Also, this time the European Commission initiated the case on its own authority, marking the first use of a special legal rule in the anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese export enterprises," said Pu Lingchen, Partner, Chance Bridge Law Firm.

The EU has given itself quite the ambitious goal - starting in 2035 all new cars sold will be emissions free.

Those involved in crafting of the blue book believed that EVs will be crucial in achieving this target. But they have also said that if Chinese imported EVs come with a higher price tag, then the EU's ambitious plan will certainly face difficulties.

Chinese think tank criticizes EU's double standards on electric vehicles