The Deep Blue Explorer is the world’s first semi-submersible drilling platform, customized for deep-water oil and gas exploration and development in the South China Sea.

As the platform is designed to suit the environment of the South China Sea, it is suitable for oil and gas exploration and development in the middle to deep water areas, high-temperature and high-pressure formations and also, the ultra-deep buried formations of the South China Sea.

The platform has a maximum operating water depth of 1,000 meters and a maximum drilling depth of 9,144 meters. It merges the benefits of using traditional anchored drilling platforms and modern dynamic positioning platforms into one. It is also the first drilling platform in the world to achieve the smart certification from Det Norske Veritas (DNV).

The Deep Blue Explorer also uses the R6 mooring chain and related mooring accessories developed in China. These can effectively cope with harsh sea conditions, super typhoon threats as well as adapting to operations worldwide. It is especially suited for oil and gas exploration and operations in the South China Sea.

The Deep Blue Explorer is a collaboration between CNOOC and China Merchants Group. China has complete intellectual property rights on this platform and has research and development capabilities of such large-scale marine equipment. This definitely pushed the modern industrial supply chain processes to the next level in China!