The world’s largest integrated fracturing vessel, HYSY 696, was delivered on March 10 in Zhoushan City, East China’s Zhejiang Province, where it set sail.
The vessel is independently designed by Shanghai Merchant Ship Design and Research Institute (SDARI), a member of China State Shipbuilding Corporation Limited (CSSC), and constructed by Wuhu Shipyard Co., Ltd. As China’s first large integrated fracturing vessel, it is a tailored offshore oil and gas operation platform for the Tianjin Branch of China National Offshore Oil Corporation and China Oilfield Services Limited.
The world’s largest integrated fracturing vessel, HYSY 696, was delivered on March 10 in Zhoushan City, East China’s Zhejiang Province. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
HYSY 696 is a Tuna WS25000 vessel meticulously designed by SDARI. It employs a high level of integration, automation and digitalization, and its overall performance ranks top in the world. The 99.9-meter-long, 22- meter-wide vessel has a 9.9-meter hull height and is registered in the China Classification Society. It can meet diverse operational demands, such as large-scale fracturing operations across all Chinese maritime areas, batch multi-well offshore fracturing, as well as gas-well and ultra-deep fracturing operations.
The world’s largest integrated fracturing vessel, HYSY 696, was delivered on March 10 in Zhoushan City, East China’s Zhejiang Province. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Low-permeability offshore oil and gas fields represent a significant potential reserve for maritime oil production. However, their extraction poses considerable challenges due to great burial depth, low permeability and poor fluidity. HYSY 696 is made for oil production under such conditions.
The world’s largest integrated fracturing vessel, HYSY 696, was delivered on March 10 in Zhoushan City, East China’s Zhejiang Province. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
During the R&D process, SDARI aimed for high-level integration, digitalization, effectiveness and safety. The project team employed three-dimensional integrated circuits (3D-IC) technology to facilitate the design and production. By enabling the direct cross-phase inheritance of high-precision 3D models, redundant modelling was avoided, design errors were minimized, and both design quality and efficiency were significantly improved.
The world’s largest integrated fracturing vessel, HYSY 696, was delivered on March 10 in Zhoushan City, East China’s Zhejiang Province. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
All core equipment aboard the vessel has been independently developed and manufactured in China. It is the result of overcoming multiple technical challenges and possessing complete independent intellectual property rights. This achievement fills a domestic gap in offshore oilfield fracturing technology and engineering equipment. Among these breakthroughs, key systems such as the medium-voltage closed-loop power system and the controllable passive anti-rolling tank are provided by the 704th Research Institute of CSSC, which is also known as the Shanghai Marine Equipment Research Institute.
(Executive editor: Yuan Ting)
