During the construction process of the project, CIMC Raffles adopted a series of innovative construction techniques, such as comprehensive land construction, large barge launching, 2×104t crane docking together, and underwater installation of propellers at the 18m deep-water quay, etc., and independently completed the commissioning work of all the systems, which has created a unique mode of offshore construction.
"Pioneer" is a semi-submersible drilling rig designed and constructed in accordance with the relevant laws, regulations, norms and standards of the Norwegian waters, which meets the requirements of the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), Norwegian Maritime Directorate (NMD), Det Norske Veritas (DNV), the Norwegian Petroleum Industry Technical Standards (NORSOK) and the requirements of the traditional semi-submersible drilling rigs. The platform meets the requirements of the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA), NMD, DNV, NORSOK and the requirements of conventional semi-submersible drilling rigs, and has the capability to operate not only in the Norwegian North Sea, but also in other parts of the world. The platform has a total length of 104.5m, a width of 65m, a depth of 36.85m, a design draft of 9.5-17.75m, an operating water depth of 70-750m, a maximum wind speed of 51.5m/s, a maximum vertical drilling depth of 7,500m, a maximum variable deck load of 4,000t, and a rated occupancy of 120, which combines drilling and repairing of wells and living in the platform.
"Pioneer" adopts DP-3 power and mooring dual positioning system and unmanned cabin design, centralized remote control operation in the pilothouse and operation room. DP3 power positioning system has significant safety advantages, the platform can still maintain the power positioning capability after the failure of any cabin and any system. In addition, the use of a moored positioning system in suitable waters can reduce operating costs.
The selection of key equipment for the construction of the Pioneer has taken into account factors such as advancement, reliability, functionality, and follow-up services, and has adopted mature products from the world's top manufacturers in the offshore engineering industry; the design and construction of the drilling equipment meets the requirements of the latest laws, regulations, standards, and specifications; and the platform is equipped with a blowout preventer (BOP) that operates at the same time as a drilling rig. The platform is equipped with a blowout preventer (BOP) with a working pressure of 15,000 psi, casing shear and sealing functions, and is capable of realizing hydraulic remote control, sonar remote control, and submarine robot emergency control functions, which can effectively prevent well surges, blowouts, oil spills, and other major accidents of a vicious nature from occurring. The platform is also equipped with an oil recovery tree conveying system and a watertight pipe suspension device, which can synchronize with the drilling process to realize the underwater installation of the oil recovery tree, which can greatly improve the overall efficiency of the oilfield development and production, and reduce production costs.
"Pioneer" in the design and construction stage also fully considered the prevention of various potential risks. According to the specific Norwegian standards and combined with the relevant experience in the offshore oil industry, a comprehensive analysis of various potential risks that may lead to personnel injury, environmental pollution, equipment damage, platform distress, from the risk analysis, technology application, overall layout, system design, equipment configuration, automation level, and other hardware and technology aspects, to effectively prevent various types of potential risks. In addition, the Pioneer also eliminates various potential factors that may affect the physical and mental safety of the staff, providing a safe and comfortable working and living environment for the staff on the platform, such as the drilling equipment realizes fully automatic drilling and remote control operation of starting and stopping the drilling tools, which reduces the labor intensity of the workers and at the same time guarantees their personal safety.
In terms of protecting the environment, the Pioneer is designed for zero-discharge drilling process, and all the rock chips can be sent back to land for treatment. The wastewater system includes domestic wastewater treatment system, hazardous area wastewater treatment system and non-hazardous area wastewater treatment system, which realizes that all the domestic oily wastewater, industrial oily wastewater, and rainwater will be centrally treated and discharged to the sea, which can be environmentally friendly. After discharge into the sea, it can achieve zero pollution to the environment.
On March 18, 2013, news came from CNOOC Drilling Europe Ltd. that the deepwater semi-submersible drilling rig "Pioneer" topped the list of all 31 platforms in the comprehensive performance appraisal in February by Statoil and was named the "February Monthly Platform of the Month". "
This is the second time that Pioneer has been awarded Platform of the Month, the first being in May 2012, according to the report. Since November 2012, "Pioneer" has achieved second place in operational efficiency for four consecutive months, and its good reputation has helped CNOOC establish its brand in Norway.