The Yuejin 3-3 well will mark a significant advancement in ultra-deep oil and gas exploration and help the nation increase its crude oil production.
Asia’s deepest oil well is being drilled by a Chinese oil company in the Tarim Basin of northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region as of Monday.
The Yuejin 3-3 well will mark a significant advancement in ultra-deep oil and gas exploration and help the nation increase its crude oil production.
It is planned to reach a depth of 9,472 metres. With more than 60% of the nation’s onshore ultra-deep oil and gas resources, the Tarim Basin is the largest petroleum basin in the country.
However, due in part to the fact that its oil and gas reserves are located between 6,000 and 10,000 metres below the ground, it is also one of China’s most challenging regions to explore. Russia’s Z-44, one of the deepest oil wells in the world, is over 12,000 metres below the surface.
Sinopec, a Chinese energy conglomerate, has improved the drilling technologies to overcome the extreme conditions of high temperature and high pressure at a depth of over 9,000 metres, making the country one of the few in the world capable of drilling wells 10,000 metres deep.
According to Wang Long, secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) northwest oil field committee of Sinopec Research Institute of Petroleum Engineering, “Through brainstorming and innovation, we’ve developed the state-of-the-art technologies in designing drilling systems as well as operating and supporting them in the deep, complex environments, marking breakthroughs in key technologies.” Drilling time has dropped from 280 days three years ago to as low as 97 days now.”
Meanwhile, Wang noted, “Drilling accuracy has increased from 60% to over 90%.” The Shendi-1 oil project includes the Yuejin 3-3 well. Within the basin in the Taklamakan Desert, there are 120 wells that are deeper than 8,000 metres. Drilling was expected to be completed by Sinopac in 170 days.