China has installed its self-developed deep-water offshore jacket on Sunday, the highest in Asia, marking a significant technological breakthrough in the country's design and development of such infrastructure.

This jacket, called "Haiji No. 1", supports a platform for drilling oil and gas offshore. It is the first jacket that can be used in 300-meter-deep water in Asia, and has a height of 302 meters and weight of 30,000 tonnes.

Installed under 284 meters deep in the water, "Haiji No. 1" will operate in the east of the South China Sea, 200 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. It is the first time China has developed and installed a fixed jacket in this sea area, and it is expected to boost development in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Serving as the base of a fixed offshore oil and gas platform, the jacket will carry a platform weighing 11,000 tonnes with a 7,700-square-meter deck area, the heaviest in the country.

The volume of steel used for the structure is sufficient to manufacture a medium-sized aircraft carrier, according to Science and Technology Daily.

There are thousands of oil and gas jacket platforms around the world, but only 10 are designed to be able to be operated under 280 meters deep.

The "Haiji No. 1" will also face the test of typhoons and tsunamis. But the jacket must not exceed the 30,000-tonne designed weight or it will be impossible to install.

"The jacket is lighter than those operating at a less deep level," said Fu Dianfu, deputy head of engineering design at China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC)'s research branch. "We created a customized design to make the most out of the steel we are allowed to use."

The installation of "Haiji No. 1" has been completed almost two years after construction began in March 2020.