9432.55 Meters! Shendi No. 1 Breaks The Record For The Deepest Horizontal Well On Land in Asia

In the sea area about 150 kilometers to 180 kilometers away from Sanya City, Hainan Province, the second phase of the "Deep Sea No. 1" project, my country's first deepwater high-pressure gas field project, is intensifying. At present, the overall drilling operation progress of the project has reached 80%. Compared with the first phase of the project, the development of the second phase of the "Deep Sea No. 1" project is more difficult. It has to overcome the test of high pressure, with the maximum formation pressure reaching 69 MPa. In such a complex environment, every time technicians drill down one meter, they leave a footprint in an inaccessible no-man's land.

Li Zhong, Chief Engineer of China National Offshore Oil Research Institute: Its reservoir pressure is much higher than that of the first phase. In this process, the first issue is safe drilling. Deepwater operations are actually a world of ice and fire. The temperature on the sea surface is more than 20 degrees Celsius, the seabed is basically close to zero degrees Celsius, and the temperature of the reservoir has risen to 130 to 40 degrees Celsius.

Ma Chuanhua, deputy manager of the "Deep Sea No. 1" phase II drilling and completion project of CNOOC Hainan Branch: In view of the complex geological conditions of deep wells and ultra-deep wells and the high risk of collapse and lost circulation, relying on independently developed downhole measurement tools to avoid high-risk formations Operational risks, reducing costs by 20%.

Technological breakthroughs are being made step by step, and more “advanced” tools have reduced costs, bringing exploration of deep sea gas fields to a new level. The operation of the first development well of the second phase of the "Deep Sea No. 1" project was successfully completed recently. The operating water depth is nearly 1,000 meters, and the completed drilling depth is more than 5,000 meters. This well has tested to produce more than 1 million cubic meters of natural gas per day.
70 kilometers away, the first phase project of the "Deep Sea No. 1" gas field has begun to assume the task of ensuring natural gas supply in winter.

Zhang Bao, Production Supervisor of CNOOC's "Deep Sea No. 1" Gas Field: Natural gas from 1,500 meters under ultra-deep water can be transported from south to north through pipelines. The "Deep Sea No. 1" gas field has deployed 11 underground gas wells, and the daily natural gas production capacity has reached 10 million. cubic meter.

The confidence to ensure supply comes from more technological upgrades. The digitally transformed production platform can realize remote control production. Under water depths of 1,000 meters, underwater trees connect oil and gas from deep within the formation to external oil and gas transportation pipelines. It is like setting up a fine, self-closing "faucet" at the wellhead. It can independently control the oil and gas production speed, monitor pressure, temperature. Key technologies for online monitoring of offshore oil and gas wells are also playing a role.

Li Wentuo, Senior Drilling and Completion Engineer of CNOOC Hainan Branch: We put on "protective clothing" for downhole optical fibers to achieve high-precision distributed downhole temperature, pressure, and acoustic wave monitoring, and established an oil and gas well optical cable reliability evaluation system and evaluation standard, filling the gap in offshore oil and gas well monitoring.

After the completion of the second phase of the project, the overall peak annual output of the "Shenhai No. 1" ultra-deepwater gas field will increase from 3 billion cubic meters to 4.5 billion cubic meters, equivalent to nearly 90% of Hainan's annual natural gas consumption.

Li Zhong, Chief Engineer of China National Offshore Oil Research Institute: In the past ten years, 70% to 80% of new oil and gas have been discovered in the ocean, but two-thirds of them are concentrated in deep water areas.

The rich deposits of oil and gas are not only hidden in the deep sea thousands of meters underground, but the constantly updated and iterated drilling equipment is advancing deeper and further into no man's land. In the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang, on the edge of the Taklimakan Desert, the "Shendi No. 1" Yuejin 3-3XC well recently set a new record for the deepest horizontal well on land in Asia.

Li Shuanggui, deputy director of the Petroleum Engineering Technology Research Institute of Sinopec Northwest Oilfield Branch: Well Yuejin 3-3XC has a designed well depth of 9,472 meters, and the current depth has been drilled to 9,432.55 meters. Its depth data has set a new record for the deepest horizontal well on land in Asia.
In order to solve the problem of ultra-deep high temperature and high pressure, the project specially upgraded domestic drilling rig equipment and developed high-strength large-diameter drill pipes. Using ultra-deep, high-temperature and efficient directional technology near the drill bit, the high-precision measurement and control system while drilling can transmit signals thousands of meters underground to the surface in real time, providing precise "navigation" for the drill bit.

Chen Zongqi, Deputy General Manager of Sinopec Northwest Oilfield Branch: Through innovative research, we have explored and formed a set of world-leading supporting technologies and standards for the design of complex ultra-deep well depth structures, thereby achieving a breakthrough in my country's key core technologies.

“Ultra-deep” exploration and development technology helps increase domestic oil and gas reserves and production

Looking for oil and gas more than 9,000 meters underground is like standing on the top of Mount Everest and seeing clearly the cruise ships on the Brahmaputra River. At the same time, the high-temperature and high-pressure environment also poses challenges to ultra-deep oil and gas exploration. How to solve these problems, discover the oil and gas treasures sleeping deep in the ground, and accelerate the formation of new productivity?

In the field of ultra-deep natural gas exploration, Guo Xusheng once led the team to discover my country's first ultra-deep reef gas field-Yuanba Gas Field. In the professional field of oil and gas, wells with a depth of 4,500 meters to 6,000 meters are called deep wells, and wells with a depth of 6,000 meters to 9,000 meters are called ultra-deep wells. Ultra-deep well drilling is the field with the most technical bottlenecks and the greatest challenges in oil and gas engineering.

Guo Xusheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering: The original equipment's adaptability may be able to work normally at 80 or 90 degrees Celsius and 50 or 60 MPa. At more than 200 degrees Celsius underground, under high pressure conditions, the wellbore is relatively small, and the requirements for instruments and equipment are very high. Especially when the steering equipment is so deep, it can collect underground signals while drilling, telling us where to hit, what the characteristics of the formation are, and the signals should be transmitted in real time.

The complex environment 9,000 meters underground requires more powerful hardware equipment. To avoid traffic jams and getting lost in ultra-deep uninhabited areas, the navigation system of the underground drill must also not fail. my country's equipment manufacturers have gathered innovative resources at home and abroad to carry out joint research and have carried out comprehensive performance upgrades on drilling rigs, drill bits, measurement and guidance tools, etc.
Academician Guo Xusheng said that compared with ordinary drilling rigs, the new electric drilling rig used in the domestic "Shen Di No. 1" ultra-deep well has a load-lifting capacity increased from three to four hundred tons to nearly seven hundred tons, which is equivalent to lifting 120 adult elephants at the same time.

Guo Xusheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering: Through the advancement of engineering technology and drilling and fracturing technology, we can accurately find oil and gas resources and develop them at low cost, which becomes a profitable resource.

At present, "Shendi No. 1·Shunbei Oil and Gas Field Base" has drilled 57 oil and gas wells with a vertical depth of more than 8,000 meters, and has identified four billion-ton oil and gas areas. At the same time, deep ground technology has also been used in shale oil, shale The development of natural gas will comprehensively increase the production of domestic oil fields and rejuvenate old oil fields.

Guo Xusheng, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering: Through continuous innovation in productivity, our research and engineering technology capabilities are getting stronger and stronger. The process of continuous iteration and innovation of new productivity has driven our discovery of large-scale deep oil and gas resources. I have full confidence in the exploration and development of deep and ultra-deep oil and gas, and I think it will be the main force in increasing reserves and production in the future.