China has seen another technological breakthrough at an ultra-deep well on the edge of the Taklamakan Desert in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region by setting a new daily drilling record of 2,006 meters in a single day, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said on Wednesday.
The announcement came as drilling work was completed at the "Ha 13-H9" well in the Tarim Oilfield, located in Shaya County of Aksu Prefecture, reaching a final depth of 7,341 meters, with the daily record being achieved earlier during the drilling process at this site.
More than 120 cities in 15 provincial-level regions across China have been benefited by the natural gas supplied by the CNPC's Tarim Oilfield and staff say the increased drilling speed helps vastly improve overall efficiency of operations.
"Two years of technological research have reduced the drilling time for this block from 138.76 days in 2022 to 120.4 days in 2023. This means we can save 18 days when drilling an 8,000-meter well," said Zou Bo, a CNPC staff member.
The record is attributed to the considerable developments made in key technical equipment, including high-strength drill pipes, high-temperature-proof drilling fluid that can withstand heat of up to 220 degrees Celsius, and state-of-art logging tools capable of operating thousands of meters below the surface level.
These advancements have provided essential technical support for developing deep-earth oil and gas exploration in China.
"We have developed a domestic 175 Mpa gas wellhead equipment with a casing head, allowing us to address the challenges of exploring and developing ultra-deep gas. This significantly reduces our dependence on foreign equipment and lowers production costs," said Zhang Bao, director of the Oil and Gas Extraction Department at the CNPC Tarim Oilfield branch.
Chinese drilling technology digs record-breaking 2,000 meters in single day
Chinese drilling technology digs record-breaking 2,000 meters in single day
