China-built offshore platform being turned into a recreational centre
Shallow-water Shengli 2 platform will be refurbished with hotel rooms, a restaurant and children’s playground
A Chinese offshore platform left without work by the last market downturn has found a new lease of life in the tourism trade.
The bottom-supported drilling platform Shengli 2 platform is set to be turned into an offshore recreational centre, with the decision being firmed up after offshore experts endorsed the plan.
The Shengli 2 was originally owned by Sinopec Shengli Petroleum Administration Bureau Offshore Drilling, but in late 2021 was sold to Dongying Jingming Aquatic Product, a local entity in Shandong province that specialises in maritime and fish products production and marketing.
Since then, the new owner has been trying to market the platform as a base for sea fishing.
The unit, which is now anchored at the mouth of China’s Yellow River, will find a new lease of life as a recreational centre, the experts concluded in a seminar.
Sinopec Shengli Engineering, which designed the unit, said the platform’s anti-tilting and anti-sliding systems are still in good condition and able to withstand super typhoons.
Once properly maintained and modified, the platform should last another 20 years.
On-board facilities will include hotels, restaurants and a children’s playground.
Built by Qingdao Beihai Shipyard in 1988, the platform was originally designed to work in water depths of 6.8 metres and to accommodate 94 people.
The last well the rig drilled was the Chengbeigu-5 sidetrack in the Chengbei block in Bohai Bay.
The 72-metre-by-42.5-metre platform equipped with a helicopter deck is one of 18 shallow-water units that Shengli Oilfield Offshore Drilling has on its books in Bohai Bay.
Also in Shandong province, Chinese yard CIMC Raffles is working on a scheme to convert the semi-submersible accommodation unit OOS Prometheus, that once worked offshore Brazil for Petrobras, into a floating facility for tourists.
CIMC Raffles earlier said the unit will be made into a “unique super cultural tourist” attraction and will include an art hotel, a culture museum, a commercial complex and other tourist amenities.
The 2013-built unit owned by CIMC will house the Mirage–Yantai Bajiaowan Maritime Art City, which will be deployed two kilometres from shore in a water depth of 15 metres.
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