BEIJING, April 30 (UPI) -- China National Offshore Oil Co. Ltd. said Monday it had completed work on the hull of China's biggest offshore oil production and storage unit.
CNOOC said the unit, which can hold 2 million barrels of crude, will be named Offshore Oil 117 and is a joint venture with ConocoPhillips China Inc.
The official Xinhua news agency reported that the unit can process more than 190,000 barrels of crude daily and will be used to store crude pumped from offshore oil wells before being transferred to oil tankers and taken ashore.
"As one of the world's largest offshore oil storage units, Offshore Oil 117 represents China's advancement in ship-building and offshore engineering," Xinhua quoted an unnamed CNOOC official as saying.
The hull will now be taken from Shanghai, China, to Singapore where the unit's topside will be built, Xinhua reported.
"The entire unit will be put to use by late 2008 in the Bohai Sea at the Penglai 19-3 Project, which is jointly being developed by CNOOC and ConocoPhillips China Inc.," Xinhua reported.
Penglai 19-3 has oil reserves of 600 million tons and is the largest offshore oil field discovered in China.
