China: CNOOC Successfully Installs Liwan Topsides

China’s national oil company CNOOC has successfully completed the installation of the topsides of the Central Processing Platform at the Liwan field in the South China Sea.

China Daily reports that the company Thursday lowered the 30.000 ton topsides on a jacket, previously installed on the seabed. The installation, some 300 kilometers southeast of Hong Kong, was completed yesterday in spite of the rain and big waves.

The Liwan field, located within Block 29/26, will use a deepwater subsea production system connected by flow lines and manifolds to a central shallow water platform, which in turn will be connected by pipeline to an onshore gas plant.
Located about 300 kilometres southeast of Hong Kong, Liwan 3-1 is the largest ever natural gas discovery offshore China. The field is being jointly developed by a Canadian oil company Husky Energy and CNOOC.

First gas is expected to flow in late 2013.