www射-国产免费一级-欧美福利-亚洲成人福利-成人一区在线观看-亚州成人

National

Regional

Taiwan, HK, Macao

Special Coverage

Focus

Society

Profiles

China's exploration vessel for combustible ice delivered

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-18 16:48

GUANGZHOU: China's first deep-sea exploration vessel for the reconnaissance of combustible ice was delivered for use on Sunday in south China's Guangdong Province.

Wang Xuelong, deputy director of China Geological Survey Bureau, handed over the certificate of seaworthiness for the ship coded Ocean No. 6 to the Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey Bureau, which is carrying out the combustible ice survey in South China Sea.

Wang said that the ship independently developed by China cost 400 million yuan (US$59 million) to build.

Related readings:  China prudent over tapping combustible ice: project leader  Chinese, Russian negotiators meet again on energy cooperation  Investor Soros to chip in $1b for clean-energy tech  China's new energy and renewable energy boom in recent years

The ship has a gross tonnage of 4,600 tons and an endurance of 15,000 nautical miles. It has been equipped with underwater remote-control survey facilities and other high-tech devices, he said.

China announced in 2007 to have successfully excavated combustible ice,

a kind of natural gas hydrate, under the South China Sea, making the country the fourth after the United States, Japan and India to succeed in the field.

Combustible ice is regarded as a potential source of alternative energy to coal and oil. One cubic meter of combustible ice can release 164 cubic meters of natural gas.