On May 11, China’s first integrated large-scale fracturing vessel, “Haiyang Shiyou 696”, officially commenced construction operations; its supporting digital onshore terminal, the Tianjin Company Fracturing Intelligent Decision Command Center (hereinafter referred to as the Command Center), was put into operation, providing full-process technical support for the first operation well of the fracturing vessel, assisting the Bohai Oilfield in taking a key step towards digital intelligence empowerment and increasing reserves and production.
“Haiyang Shiyou 696” can perform high-displacement, high-power large-scale fracturing operations at sea, filling multiple gaps in China’s offshore oil and gas fracturing stimulation technology and engineering equipment (click to review: New! China’s first integrated large-scale fracturing vessel completed and delivered). This operation focuses on the development pain points of unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs. The project team accurately identified reservoir “sweet spots”, analyzed modification difficulties, and carried out a “one layer, one strategy” refined supersaturated filling scheme design, promoting personnel and vessel coordination and磨合 in practice.
Entering the Command Center, various construction charts are displayed in real time on electronic screens. Through the dual-link communication of 5G and satellite, the operation site of the “Haiyang Shiyou 696” fracturing vessel, far out at sea, is clearly projected onto the onshore screen. Images transmitted by multi-angle high-definition cameras enable synchronized views between the front and rear lines. The operating status of each piece of equipment, pressure curve fluctuations, and health data such as the heart rate of operators are all clearly visible. Engineers from multiple disciplines including geology, reservoir, and fracturing gather around the Command Center office, closely monitoring data flow changes, and providing real-time remote diagnosis and decision support for the working conditions reported from the site.
Zhang Ming, Chief Drilling and Completion Engineer of the Bohai Petroleum Research Institute of Tianjin Company, told reporters: “Now, the expert team can track the site in real time from onshore, quickly form ‘consultation’ opinions, and significantly shorten the decision-making cycle.”
In the past, offshore fracturing faced challenges such as data silos and lagging remote support. Under the traditional model, if an unexpected working condition occurred on site, multiple rounds of communication by engineers were required, resulting in a long decision-making cycle. Now, the Command Center integrates collaborative optimization software from multiple disciplines such as geology, reservoir, and fracturing, shifting the construction mode from independent operations relying on the personal experience of on-site engineers to an integrated model where a cross-disciplinary expert team provides full-process online tracking and real-time decision support.
For the “sand plug” condition, which carries the highest risk during fracturing, the Command Center has deployed an intelligent sand plug early warning system. This system relies on the 5G and satellite dual links to transmit construction data in real time. Using core models such as machine learning, it can predict the construction pressure for the next 40 seconds, with an early warning accuracy rate of over 95%.
Wang Xiaopeng, Director of the Fracturing Research Office of the Bohai Petroleum Research Institute, introduced to reporters that the core value of this early warning system lies in risk prevention, making timely responses to complex working conditions through joint expert work combined with artificial intelligence means. Currently, this system has successfully ensured the safe construction of four offshore fracturing wells.
In addition, the Command Center promotes deep integration of geology and engineering at the design source. Through 3D modeling technology, engineers can pre-simulate the fracture growth process in the computer, thereby accurately optimizing the construction plan. The supporting dedicated software can automatically collect and store operational data, achieving standardized management of fracturing data. This model makes the plan more reasonable and the process more transparent, achieving a win-win situation for increasing reserves and production while reducing costs and increasing efficiency.
It is understood that “Haiyang Shiyou 696” was built by Wuhu Shipyard and officially delivered on March 10 this year. The vessel was independently researched and designed by the Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute and is a specialized offshore oil and gas operation tool tailored for CNOOC (China) Co., Ltd. Tianjin Branch and COSL Oilfield Services Co., Ltd. Its successful development has broken the long-term technological monopoly and blockade by foreign countries, marking a major breakthrough in China’s offshore oilfield fracturing technology and engineering fields.
“Haiyang Shiyou 696” adopts the WS25000 design of the Tuna series from the Marine Engineering Department of SDARI, with a total length of 99.8 meters and a molded width of 22 meters. Its deck area is equivalent to 3.5 standard basketball courts. The vessel possesses advantages such as high integration, automation, and digital intelligence, meeting the needs of large-scale fracturing operations across China’s entire sea area, multi-well batch fracturing operations at sea, as well as gas well and ultra-deep layer fracturing operations.
The vessel is equipped with a full set of fracturing equipment and can perform high-displacement, high-power large-scale offshore fracturing operations, with overall performance reaching the leading level among similar vessels globally. The fracturing vessel has strong continuous operation capability and material storage capacity, capable of pumping 12 cubic meters of mortar per minute, equivalent to filling a household bathtub in 2 seconds, improving operational efficiency by nearly 40%. This turns previously difficult-to-access oil and gas resources into new positions for efficient development. Its delivery and use will strongly promote the development process of China’s marine low-permeability oil and gas resources.
