Wei Jie claudiamente@hotmail.com THE installation of an offshore jacket for a Panyu oil platform operated by the State-owned China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) Shenzhen Co. was completed Wednesday, marking a significant step toward enhancing energy exploration and production in the South China Sea. The Panyu 11-12 platform, in conjunction with the Panyu 10-1 platform located 25 kilometers away, now stands as the newest unmanned oil production platform within the Panyu oil rigs cluster project. Positioned around 200 kilometers southeast of Shenzhen in the South China Sea, these recently upgraded intelligent platforms are among Shenzhen’s 236 major industrial projects launched in the second quarter of this year. Li Zhenning, the project manager of the Panyu oil rigs, highlighted that the compact smart platforms of Panyu 10-1 and Panyu 11-12, weighing merely a third of a conventional offshore oil rig, have been engineered with intelligent valves, meters, and control systems. This design enables remote operations and unmanned production activities on the two platforms, safeguarding against the impact of typhoons, a common occurrence in the South China Sea region. The Panyu oil rigs cluster was first developed by CNOOC Shenzhen Co. two decades ago. Over the past 20 years, these oil rigs have yielded a cumulative total of 520 million tons of crude oil, valued at 180 billion yuan (US$25 billion), servicing a quarter of the population in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. | 