LNG (liquefied natural gas) is recognized as the cleanest fossil energy onearth, and China is the world's largest importer of LNG. To facilitate the reception and transportation of imported LNG, many LNG receiving stations are distributed in coastal areas of China. As one of the main equipment of the receiving station, the seawater pump bears the heavy responsibility of LNG energy security.

In October 2012, Kaiquan and CNOOC Zhejiang Ningbo Liquefied Natural Gas Co., Ltd. signedthe "Domestic LNG Seawater Pump Development Cooperation Agreement". Prior to this, Chinese LNG receiving station seawater pumps had always been monopolized by foreign pump industry giants in Europe,America, and Japan. Not only did they have a long supply cycle and slow after-sales response, but their expensive products and prices of after-sales parts have also been unbearable for LNG companies.

In order to break the monopoly of foreign pump industry giants and carry out independent research and development and production of seawater pumps,theKaiquan Pump Group, which had been deeply engaged in the water pump industry for more than 20 years at that time, continued to increase its research and development efforts after 2008, determined to enter the high-end pump market in the nuclear power, military, and petrochemical industries, and achieve the localization of LNG seawater pumps.

Against this development background, Kaiquan proactively contacted the nearby CNOOC Ningbo Liquefied Natural Gas Co., Ltd. to gain a deeper understanding of customer needs and pain points. With excellent technical strength and sincerity, Kaiquan convinced CNOOC Ningbo LNG to jointly develop and cooperate on the first domestically produced model machine of LNG seawater lifting pump.

During the research and development, due to the application characteristics of the product such as large flow, seawater corrosion resistance, high reliability and high efficiency, technicians are required to find new innovative breakthroughs in design, materials and weldingproblems.

In this regard, Kaiquan and CNOOC Ningbo LNG engineers, fearless of difficulties and challenges, the first time made overall arrangements and division of labor cooperation, through more than 300 days and nights of hard work, overcame the above difficulties, completed the research and development and manufacturing of the first domesticmodel machine, and in September 2013, the full performance test of model machine:once pass, a complete success.

The successful development of themodel machine has made CNOOC know Kaiquan's solidR&D strength and unyielding will to fight. With full trust, they signed aseawater pump technology maintenance service contract ofthree-year with Kaiquan in August 2017, handing over all the follow-up technical maintenance services of theseawater pump originally imported from Japan to Kaiquan.

This cooperation successfully solved the problems of high service charges and long response time of foreign pump factories, and also saved 60% of annual maintenance costs for CNOOC. And Kaiquan itself also mastered more domestic and foreignseawater pump key technologies and problems through this cooperation, whichwas crucial to Kaiquan follow-up seawater pump optimization.

Since then, in the 2017 Ningbo LNG Phase IIExpansionProject,theCNOOC also chose to trust Kaiquan and signed the "Seawater Pump Sales Contract ofZhejiang Ningbo LNG Terminal Phase II Project", ordering a total of 6seawater lifting pumps, which have passed factory acceptance, on-site installation anddebugging, preliminary acceptance and final acceptance in March 2020. By August 2022, the six seawater pumps have been running smoothly and efficiently for more than two years, and have obvious advantages compared with thePhase I pumps imported fromJapan in terms of efficiency, stability and easy maintenance.

From nothing to having,from having to being excellent! Such operationalresults are the achievements of mutual trust and close cooperation between Kaiquan and CNOOC Ningbo LNG over the past decade, as well as the achievements of countless scientific researchers who are fearless of difficulties and work hard on the front line. As a witness, beneficiary, and promoter of the development of domestic seawater pumps, Kaiquan will continue to actively play a leading and exemplary role, with the mission of "leading the rise of Chinese pump industry", and continue to empower the upgrading and development of the industry.