Output at China's difficult-to-recover heavy oilfield surpasses 10 mln tonnes

Technological breakthroughs in recovering ultra-deep extra-heavy oil had enhanced output at northwest China's Lukeqin Oilfield to over 10 million tonnes, said China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on Monday.

Ultra-deep extra-heavy oil is an extremely hard-to-recover petroleum resource buried thousands of meters underground.

It's more than 100 times thicker than regular crude oil and is like black sludge, barely flowing at all at normal temperatures.

Located in the hinterland of the Turpan Basin, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the heavy oil reservoirs of the Lukeqin Oilfield are generally buried deeper than 2,300 meters, with the maximum depth reaching 5,200 meters.

"Crude oil at the Lukeqin Oilfield features high density, high viscosity and high pour point, which constitute a world-class challenge for oil and gas development," said Wang Sheng, staff member at the reservoir geology research department of Lukeqin oil production management area.

According to oil production experts, as it is impossible to recover heavy oil reservoirs at Lukeqin Oilfield by traditional methods, they had innovated their crude oil development technologies to enhance the output.

"We innovate our technologies by injecting thin oil into the wellbore, enabling the heavy oil, which is too viscous to flow or be lifted, to be steadily pumped to the surface from 3,000 meters underground. The oil recovery factor of the oilfield has risen by 11 percentage points compared with the initial stage of development," said Zou Chenglin, executive director at the Lukeqin oil production management area.

The technological breakthrough helped enhance the annual output of Lukeqin Oilfield from 30,000 tonnes to a peak of 800,000 tonnes.

The annual output at the oilfield has remained at over 400,000 tonnes for 10 consecutive years.

Output at China's difficult-to-recover heavy oilfield surpasses 10 mln tonnes

Dialogue and cooperation between China and the United States, the world's two largest economies, matters far beyond the two countries themselves, said Adnan Z. Amin, chair of the officers' council of the World Energy Council (WEC), a global network of energy organizations.

In a recent interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN), Amin said such dialogue gives the wider world grounds for optimism, and that the economic issues between the two sides can only be resolved through sustained engagement.

"It's absolutely essential. I think when you have two of the biggest economies in the world in dialogue and collaboration, it makes a difference for the rest of the world. It provides an optimistic approach, it provides a positive kind of perspective of where we can be going. There are hard issues to discuss. The economic trade-offs are not inconsequential. They need to be addressed. And the best way to do it is through dialogue. And to see President Xi in Washington today is very encouraging, because I think that dialogue is essential today," he said.

Amin added that policymakers should set aside reflexive hostility and focus on the tangible benefits that cooperation can bring to people in both countries.

"We need to get beyond this kind of knee-jerk antagonism that you see in certain policy circles in different countries around the world to really look at what is the reality today. How will our collaboration improve the lot of people in our countries? And what are the best areas for us to do (work on) and who has to take responsibility for what. This is essential," he said.

China-U.S. dialogue "absolutely essential" for world: WEC chair