According to China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), on October 30, the second phase of China’s first “intelligent plant” for offshore oil and gas equipment manufacturing – Offshore Oil Engineering Tianjin Intelligent Manufacturing Base was officially put into production, marking the completion of China’s first “intelligent plant” for offshore oil and gas equipment, which is of great significance to the acceleration of the cultivation and development of new quality productivity of marine energy.
The “intelligent plant” is a demonstration base for the digital transformation of central enterprises, a demonstration project for CNOOC to explore intelligent manufacturing, and a demonstration base for Tianjin’s pilot area for offshore high-end equipment and facilities manufacturing.
The base covers an area of about 575,000 square meters, including four intelligent production workshops, eight production support centers, 16 assembly stations and docks suitable for large ships. Among them, 4 intelligent production lines are the first in the industry.
The base focuses on the development of high-end oil and gas equipment such as offshore oil and gas platforms, floating production equipment liquefied natural gas (LNG) modules, and is committed to building a comprehensive base integrating intelligent manufacturing of marine engineering, intelligent guarantee of oil and gas field operation and maintenance, and innovative research and development platform of marine engineering technology. After full production, the annual production capacity will be nearly 90,000 tons.
The project was constructed in two phases. The first phase was put into production in June 2022, and the second phase was started construction in July 2023. The main construction content of the second phase includes the intelligent workshop for structural pipelines, assembly stations, docks, and a 172-meter-long shipping channel.
As the focus of construction, the intelligent workshop for structural pipelines has an annual processing capacity of 22,000 structural tons. Combined with the production execution system and the digital twin system, it can realize the automation and intelligence of production scheduling, dispatching, inspection and data collection in the production process.
Traditional offshore oil and gas equipment manufacturing has significant characteristics such as multiple product types, long manufacturing processes, a large proportion of customization, and a low degree of standardization. The data island phenomenon in each production link is serious, making it extremely difficult to achieve intelligence.
COOEC has independently developed China’s first integrated intelligent manufacturing management platform for offshore platforms, invested more than 600 sets of advanced intelligent production equipment, and realized the full process intelligence from project control, workshop construction to plant management. It has also applied more than 10 green and low-carbon advanced technologies such as sponge factory water circulation, photovoltaic power generation, and intelligent waste gas treatment, providing a replicable and popularizable model for promoting the intelligent and green development of the manufacturing industry.
It is understood that since the first phase of the project was put into opration, COOEC Tianjin Intelligent Manufacturing Base has completed the construction of 35 offshore platforms, with cumulative shipments exceeding 87,000 tons. The overall work efficiency of the production line has increased by nearly 20%, and the overall assembly efficiency has increased by more than 30%, promoting China’s marine equipment manufacturing from the traditional “manpower” model to a modern “intelligent plant”.