The Fuman Oilfield in the heart of the Taklimakan Desert, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, has witnessed its annual production of oil and gas reaching a record high of 4.6 million tonnes, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) announced on Saturday.
Spanning an area of 17,000 square kilometers, the oilfield is China's largest discovered ultra-deep crude oil production zone to date and contains the country's deepest-buried oil and gas reserves.
The record-high annual output marks significant progress in the exploration and development of China's billion-ton ultra-deep oil and gas reservoirs, providing crucial support for the country's deep-earth energy security.
Recently, the Fuman 502H3 well, a key production well in the oilfield, was successfully brought into operation. Drilled to a depth of 8,380 meters, it produces 120 tonnes of oil per day and is one of 47 ultra-deep wells that have been drilled to a depth of more than 8,000 meters this year.
So far, these wells in the Fuman Oilfield have achieved an average daily test output of 100 tonnes each, demonstrating the substantial extraction potential of ultra-deep oil and gas resources.
"On the engineering front, a series of 8,000-meter-deep wells have been completed in approximately 100 days this year, marking a significant acceleration in drilling speed. In terms of geology, we have identified numerous oil- and gas-rich secondary fractures along the main fault zones. To draw an analogy: while we previously targeted the major arteries, we are now successfully extracting from the capillaries. This represents a dual breakthrough in both engineering capability and energy exploration geology," said Zhao Longfei, deputy manager of the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development with CNPC's Tarim Oilfield.
The Fuman Oilfield is part of the Tarim Oilfield, a crucial oil and gas production base in western China. As of December 15, the Tarim Oilfield has extracted over 20 million tonnes of oil and gas from ultra-deep formations this year, making it the country's highest-producing ultra-deep oil and gas field.
"Next year, we plan to further accelerate exploring and developing the ultra-deep layers of the desert hinterland. For 2026, plans for 23 exploration and production wells have been finalized, with six wells already under drilling and four more scheduled to commence this month. Across tens of thousands of square kilometers, we are pushing forward the accelerated extraction of ultra-deep oil and gas in the desert," said Zhao.
Annual output of China's largest ultra-deep oilfield hits record high
