Press Release
At 5:56 PM on July 5, in the waters of Daiquyang, Zhoushan, Zhejiang, the pullback of an offshore-to-offshore HDD crossing work for the 1,467-meter crude oil pipeline from Huangzeshan to Yushan was successfully completed in one time. This marks the first use of offshore-to-offshore directional drilling technology for a crude oil pipeline in China, setting three new world records for crossing length, pipe diameter, and water depth in this field.
The project was invested in and constructed by Zhejiang Energy Group and Zhoushan government to implement the "Four Reforms and One Cooperation" new energy security strategy and to serve the country's major strategic initiatives. The pipeline starts at the Zhejiang Petroleum Trading Co., Ltd. Huangzeshan Oil Storage and Transportation Trade Base and ends at the Zhoushan Green Petrochemical Base, crossing Daiquyang with a total length of approximately 46.5 kilometers, a diameter of 813 millimeters, and a maximum depth of 35 meters below the seabed.
Once completed, the pipeline is expected to transport 20 to 30 million tons of crude oil annually, laying a foundation for resource integration between the two island bases and for achieving the resource complementary of the petroleum supply chain. "The project will further coordinate and optimize existing resources and enhance the resource allocation ability of the oil industry chain in the China (Zhejiang) Free Trade Zone, promoted crude oil trade in the Free Trade Zone," said a relevant official from Zhejiang Petroleum Trading Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Zhejiang Energy Group.
The crude oil pipeline is located in the northern waters of Zhoushan, where there are numerous subsea natural gas pipelines, cables, and optical cables. To avoid impacting these existing subsea pipelines and cables, Zhejiang Petroleum Storage and Transportation Co., Ltd., the project owner, conducted multiple surveys and organized authoritative domestic expert institutes and construction units (including Hebei Huayuan Science and Industry Co., Ltd and Sinopec Shengli Petroleum Engineering and Construction Company), to design and multiple review of the pipe crossing plans before implementation.
As this was the first time to adopt this directional drilling method to do the crossing work in China, any issues with the measures taken could lead to project failure, causing losses of equipment and materials. During the project, the construction team optimized processes such as support piles’ diameter, support piles’ depth, and drill pipe strength, facing to the site conditions of strong winds, rough waves, and fast currents. The work began at 10 PM on July 2 and, after nearly 68 hours, successfully completed the pullback operation.
Following this achievement, the project was widely reported by many media platforms including People’s Daily Online, Xinhua Finance, CCTV News App, Xuexi Qiangguo, China News Service, Zhejiang Daily, Zhejiang News App, China Energy Net, China Energy News, China Power News, Today’s Headlines, Sohu, Tencent News, Zhejiang Voice on Weibo, and the Zhejiang State-Owned Assets WeChat public account.
