China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) on Wednesday announced the completion of the roofs of three 270,000 cubic meters LNG storage tanks designed and built solely by China in Yancheng City, east China's Jiangsu Province.

Capable of holding the world's largest volume of 270,000 cubic meters each, the three storage tanks are part of the CNOOC Yancheng "Green Energy Port" project, which involves the construction of 10 large-scale LNG storage tanks: four completed ones of 220,000 cubic meters and six to-be-completed ones of 270,000 cubic meters.

High-tech oriented project

Raising the roof is the most difficult phase of the construction process. The 1,200-tonne part of the roof structure needs to be lifted to a height of 60 meters. This is done with air pressure devices and requires about 500,000 cubic meters of air.

Li Deqiang, deputy commander-in-chief of the "Green Energy Port" roof construction project, told China Media Group (CMG) that "through balanced guidance, storage tank sealing, lifting power and smart monitoring, we precisely controlled the air pressure, speed and deviation ratio and other parameters of the storage tank during roof construction, so as to ensure the security and stability of the pressure lift comprehensively."

Upon completion, each storage tank will be 60 meters high, equivalent to the height of the National Stadium or the Bird's Nest and will be able to accommodate three Boeing 747 simultaneously.

Pursuit of clean energy

To be put into full operation by the end of 2023, the project, with an annual LNG processing capacity of 6 million tonnes (equivalent to 8.5 billion cubic meters of natural gas), will meet the natural gas demand of all residents in Jiangsu Province within 28 months.

It will offset carbon dioxide by 28.5 million tonnes and nitrogen oxide emission by 232,500 tonnes, providing greater impetus for the green development of China's Yangtze River Economic Belt and further boosting clean energy supply capacity to achieve China's carbon peak and neutrality targets.

Next, CNOOC is mapping out the second phase of the Yancheng "Green Energy Port" project, aiming for another 10 LNG storage tanks of 270,000 cubic meters to increase the annual LNG receiving capacity to 10 million tonnes.