On September 21, 2023, Tarim Oilfield Company announced a significant achievement: successfully extracting a high-yield oil and gas flow from the 8525-meter-deep Man Shen 503-H7 well, producing 75 tons per day. This milestone marks the 123rd ultra-deep well drilled in the Tarim Oilfield, with 100 wells already yielding industrial oil and gas flows.
These ultra-deep wells are primarily located in the large oil fields in the central Taklamakan Desert and the large gas fields in the southern part of the Tianshan Mountains. In the first half of 2023, the pace of ultra-deep drilling accelerated in the Tarim Oilfield, with 33 new wells reaching depths of 8,000 meters, equaling the total number drilled in the entire year of 2022.
Tarim Oilfield has been focusing on deep-earth oil and gas exploration in recent years, pushing the limits of geological and engineering challenges. In 2011, the oilfield drilled its first well exceeding 8,000 meters, the Ke Shen 7, setting a record for the deepest well in China’s petroleum industry. In 2020, the Lun Tan 1 well reached a depth of 8882 meters, surpassing the height of Mount Everest and becoming the deepest onshore well in Asia. In March 2023, Tarim Oilfield broke records with the Guo Le 3C horizontal well, the deepest in Asia at 9396 meters. Additionally, the deep-earth Ta Ke 1 well, which commenced on May 30, 2023, positions China on track to become the third country globally to achieve drilling at depths of 10,000 meters.
Drilling such ultra-deep wells presents numerous challenges, including complex geological layers and extreme temperature and pressure conditions. Tarim Oilfield has overcome these challenges through technological innovation and collaboration, developing a comprehensive set of ultra-deep oil and gas drilling and completion technologies.
Currently, the ultra-deep reserves discovered by the Tarim Oilfield account for three-quarters of the national total, with an annual output exceeding 18 million tons, more than half of the oilfield’s total production, and continues to grow annually.
Source: People’s Daily