China’s First Self-Designed Fracturing Vessel Delivered to Boost Offshore Oil Development

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) announced that "Haiyang Shiyou 696", the country’s first self-designed and built integrated large-scale fracturing engineering vessel, was officially delivered in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province on March 10. The vessel fills the gap in China’s offshore oil and gas fracturing stimulation technology and engineering equipment, and will be deployed to conduct offshore oil and gas fracturing stimulation operations in sea areas such as the Bohai Sea, further promoting the efficient and large-scale development of China’s offshore low-permeability oil and gas fields.

It is reported that the vessel is 99.8 meters long and 22 meters wide, with a deck area equivalent to 3.5 standard basketball courts, making it the largest vessel of its kind in the world. Equipped with a full set of fracturing equipment, it can perform large-scale offshore fracturing operations with high displacement and high power, and its overall performance ranks among the world’s leading level for similar vessels.

Fracturing is a key technology for the efficient development of low-permeability oil and gas resources. At present, China is rich in offshore low-permeability oil and gas resources, but due to the limitations of the special operating environment, there is a gap between the operation scale and construction intensity and those on land, resulting in a low degree of resource utilization.

A relevant person in charge of the Engineering Technology Operation Center of CNOOC Tianjin Company stated that "Haiyang Shiyou 696" has continuous operation capacity and material reserve capacity, capable of pumping 12 cubic meters of mortar per minute—equivalent to filling a household bathtub in two seconds. Its operation efficiency is increased by nearly 40%, turning hard-to-utilize oil and gas resources into a new position for efficient development. The vessel adopts a full electric drive system, which improves power output, reduces carbon emissions and has a cruising range of over 10,000 nautical miles.

A relevant person in charge of the Bohai Oil Research Institute of the same company added that the vessel is equipped with China’s first offshore fracturing intelligent decision-making command center, which can provide full-chain support for real-time fracturing data collection, online analysis and intelligent auxiliary decision-making. It upgrades fracturing construction decisions from experience-dependent to data and artificial intelligence-based scientific judgment, enhancing operational safety and construction efficiency.