The cumulative oil production from the secondary development of the Liuhua Oilfield, China’s first deepwater oilfield, has exceeded 2 million metric tons. SAGA’s deoiling hydrocyclones are involved

The cumulative crude oil production of the secondary development project of the Liuhua Oilfield—China’s first deepwater oilfield—has officially exceeded 2 million tonnes. This marks that China’s secondary development model for mature deepwater oilfields has withstood the test of continuous production in real operations, and provides a replicable practical example for improving quality and efficiency and tapping production potential at similar mature oilfields.

As the “Beihai Kaituo” tanker cast off and departed, loaded with 42,000 tonnes of deepwater crude oil from “Haikui No. 1,” Asia’s first cylindrical offshore oil and gas processing plant, which has been in operation for just two years, it set off from the “Haiji No. 2” platform for land. This also brought the cumulative exported crude oil of the Liuhua Oilfield secondary development project to 2.02 million tonnes.

The Liuhua Oilfield secondary development project is located in the waters of the Pearl River Mouth Basin, with an average operating water depth of 305 meters. It mainly relies on coordinated operations involving the “Haiji No. 2,” Asia’s first deepwater jacket platform; the “Haikui No. 1,” Asia’s first cylindrical offshore oil and gas processing plant; and a subsea production system. A total of 32 production wells have been put into operation, with maximum daily crude oil output reaching 3,900 tonnes.

According to Shu Zhengyong, director of the “Haiji No. 2” platform of the Liuhua Oilfield under China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), after initial processing on the “Haiji No. 2” platform, the extracted crude oil is transported through subsea pipelines to “Haikui No. 1” for further processing and storage, and finally exported. The entire operation process has achieved full-chain independent controllability.

As China’s first deepwater oilfield, the Liuhua Oilfield, after ten years of technological research, has seen its research team effectively improve crude oil recovery and production efficiency, extending the oilfield’s production life by 30 years.

Fan Huaiyong, production manager of CNOOC’s Liuhua Operating Company, said that as of now, the oilfield has cumulatively produced more than 40 million tonnes of crude oil, and its daily output has reached the highest level since it went into production 22 years ago.

The efficient release of production capacity fully verifies the reliability of the new development model and the technical system for stabilizing oil and controlling water in the Liuhua Oilfield secondary development project. It also explores a feasible “Chinese solution” for China’s future large-scale and cost-effective development of deepwater oilfields.

In the field of deepwater oil and gas exploration and development, China has achieved a historic leap from 300 meters to 1,500 meters of ultra-deepwater, becoming one of the few countries in the world capable of independently conducting deepwater oil and gas exploration and development.

In recent years, CNOOC has independently developed a series of “deepwater sharp tools” such as “Xuanji,” “Haijing,” and “Haimai,” successively overcoming world-class technical challenges in conventional deepwater, ultra-deepwater, and deepwater high-temperature and high-pressure environments, and forming a deepwater technology system with independent intellectual property rights.

In this landmark project, the hydrocyclone designed and manufactured by SAGA has been successfully deployed in this critical undertaking, leveraging its advanced separation technology. Its exceptional performance and reliability provide strong support for the smooth operation of the project.

Hydrocyclones are commonly used oil-water separation equipment in oilfields. By generating strong centrifugal force through pressure drop, the device creates a high-speed vortex inside the cyclone tube. Due to differences in fluid density, lighter oil droplets are forced toward the center, while heavier components are pushed toward the outer wall.

The hydrocyclone adopts a pressure vessel design and incorporates specially engineered hydrocyclone tubes (MF-20 Model). It utilizes the centrifugal force generated by the swirling vortex to separate free oil droplets from liquids such as produced water. This product features a compact size, simple structure, and easy operation, making it suitable for various operational scenarios. It can be used as a standalone unit or integrated with other equipment (such as flotation units, coalescing separators, degassing tanks, and ultra-fine solid separators) to form a complete produced water treatment and reinjection system. Key advantages include high throughput capacity per unit volume with a small footprint, high separation efficiency (up to 80%–98%), operational flexibility with turndown ratios of 1:100 or higher, low operating costs, and a long service life.