World's first mobile thermal-injection platform boosts heavy oil recovery in China

China has delivered the world's first mobile thermal-injection platform, marking significant progress in the country's ongoing heavy oil extraction efforts. The platform, named "Recai No.1" or "Thermal Recovery No.1," was unveiled by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in the waters off Weihai City, east China's Shandong Province.

This newly developed platform offers China new opportunities to utilize advanced heavy oil recovery technology and tap into its abundant reserves. Heavy oil, which is notably more viscous and harder to extract than conventional crude oil, constitutes over two-thirds of the world's known oil reserves, with China estimated to hold 19.87 billion tonnes.

The Recai No.1 platform is designed to enhance the efficiency and scale of heavy oil extraction through a thermal injection process. Measuring 82 meters in length and 42 meters in width, the platform is equipped with pioneering thermal-recovery technologies that use high-temperature steam to reduce the viscosity of heavy oil, making extraction easier. This process is implemented using a mobile thermal-injection system and compensation technology for high-temperature, high-pressure steam pipelines.

Capable of withstanding severe marine conditions, the platform features four legs over 70 meters high, enabling operations in waters up to 35 meters deep and withstanding typhoons as powerful as Category 16. Its two-deck structure covers more than 3,000 square meters and weighs over 10,000 tonnes, equivalent in height to a 20-story building.

A key feature of the platform is its ability to simultaneously inject high-temperature, high-pressure steam into multiple oil wells. The platform utilizes three steam boiler systems that can generate steam exceeding 350 degrees Celsius, allowing it to inject steam into up to six oil wells at once. This increases the efficiency of thermal injection operations to more than three times that of conventional cold-recovery techniques.

In contrast to fixed oil extraction platforms, Recai No.1's mobility enables it to be towed to different oil-recovery sites, providing rapid thermal injection across multiple platforms. This adaptability is expected to reduce heavy oil development costs, facilitating larger-scale extraction efforts.

China's coastal Bohai Sea region, where the new platform will operate, contains nearly half of the country's proven heavy oil reserves. The launch of this innovative thermal-injection system is expected to offer a more efficient and economically viable solution for tapping into the country's considerable heavy oil potential, thereby contributing to enhanced energy security.