(Yicai) Aug. 12 -- A ultra-large offshore oil and gas collection and transportation platform, which is the biggest of its kind built by Chinese companies for a foreign client, was successfully handed over to Saudi Arabian oil major Saudi Aramco today, marking a new chapter for the country’s giant offshore oil and gas platform construction industry.

The mega structure, which is over 24-storeys high, has a deck as big as 15 basketball courts and weighs more than 17,000 tons, took 34 months to build, China News Service reported. The platform is designed to collect and transport the oil and gas produced by the offshore oilfield. Its performance in terms of oil and gas collection and transport capacities is among the best in the world for platforms of the same type.

Offshore Oil Engineering, which is an engineering contractor under China National Offshore Oil Corporation and one of the project’s general contractors, has loaded the rig onto a vessel in the coastal port of Qingdao. It will set off at month end for the Marjan oilfield off the coast of Saudi Arabia where it will help boost crude oil output to 24 million tons a year and natural gas production to 7.4 billion tons.

The successful delivery of the facility signifies a turning point for Chinese marine engineering firms as they are now more likely to be appointed as general contractor for large international projects instead of sub-contractor, Shanghai-based Offshore Oil Engineering said earlier.

Editor: Kim Taylor