CNOOC first applied TIP TIG welding to 9% Ni steel in large LNG storage tanks

China’s independently designed and built largest LNG tank with 160,000 cubic meters was successfully put into production with welding technology from TIP TIG China.

On October 12, 2018, CNOOC Tianjin LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) replacement project commissioning media meeting was held at the CNOOC Tianjin LNG receiving station in Nanjiang Port, Binhai New Area, Tianjin. The 160,000 cubic-meter Tianjin LNG replacement project was constructed by CNOOC’s general contractor and successfully put into production. This is another major milestone of the storage tank project after the mechanical completion acceptance on September 29. After being put into production, the storage tank will effectively protect the clean energy supply in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and provide strong support for the “blue sky defense battle”.

The 160,000 cubic-meter tank EPC project for the Tianjin LNG replacement project was officially started in May 2016, including the designing, construction, procurement, and commissioning of a 160,000 cubic-meter LNG tank. This tank is the largest in China that has been independently designed and constructed. An LNG storage tank with a volume of 160,000 cubic meters, a diameter of 84 meters, and a height of 52 meters. Three Boeing 777 large passenger aircraft can be stacked in the storage tank.

Successfully put into production.

“According to the calculation of 15 households per month of gas for one household, the liquefied natural gas in the storage tank can be used by 15 million residents in Tianjin for one and a half months, which fully guarantees the natural gas supply in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region,” said project manager Yin Yongqiang.

During the design and construction of this tank, many of CNOOC’s independent core technologies and domestic equipment and materials were used, which greatly reduced the construction cost of a single tank by 1/3. At the same time, it promoted the optimization and upgrade of domestic tank supporting equipment and material manufacturing industries.

For the first time, CNOOC has realized the localization of 9% Ni steel (ultra-low temperature resistant steel) for large-scale LNG storage tanks in this project and applied TIP TIG welding to 9% Ni steel inner tank wall plates for the first time in China. Welding, the pass rate of one-time welding is as high as 99.18%, a new high in the entrepreneurial world, which indicates that CNOOC has achieved a breakthrough in the field of ultra-low temperature welding

“Technological innovation combined with management innovation has promoted the high-quality development of the domestic LNG engineering industry,” said Project Manager Yin Yongqiang. For example, in the “Internet +” era, Tianjin LNG replacement engineering storage tank project innovatively introduces a “closed management video surveillance system + VR experience” security management model. As a result, the project has 1.5 million safe working hours throughout the construction cycle, and no recordable event ensures that the storage tank was put into operation smoothly.

In the project construction cycle of the past three years, CNOOC Engineering has coordinated all parties’ resources and worked together to accumulate rich experience in general contracting management of large-scale LNG storage tank projects and to contract for a larger-scale LNG storage tank and receiving station general contracting projects in the future.