SINOPEC's Deep Earth No. 1 Leapfrog 3-3XC Well Sets New Record For Deepest Well in Asia

SINOPEC announced on 15th that SINOPEC's "Deep Ground One" Leapfrog 3-3XC well, deployed in Tarim Basin, was tested and gained high-yield oil and gas flow, producing 200 tons of crude oil and 50,000 cubic meters of natural gas per day. The well was drilled to a depth of 9,432 meters, setting two new records for the deepest well in Asia in terms of slant depth and horizontal displacement for ultra-deep drilling.

Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Sinopec Petroleum Exploration and Development Research Institute President Guo Xusheng said that the successful drilling of the well once again proved that China's deep-earth series of technology has crossed the forefront of the world, and to enter the 10,000-meter ultra-deep to provide the technology and equipment reserves. "Deep Earth One" leaping 3-3XC well is located in Xinjiang Aksu region Shaya County, the edge of the Taklamakan Desert. In addition to the complex geological structure, high temperature, high pressure and other problems associated with ultra-deep wells, the well is also designed for a horizontal distance of more than 3,400 meters, and faces new problems such as the difficulty of casing insertion and the formation of a "bed of rock debris" in the horizontal section, which makes the construction difficulty rare at home and abroad.

The Yujin 3-3XC project, led by SINOPEC Northwest Oilfield, integrates and applies long-life rotary guides, high-performance drilling bits and other advanced speed-enhancing tools, boldly adopts new techniques to solve the problems of rock-breaking and speed-enhancement, and makes full use of big data and remote support to efficiently provide risk warnings and optimize drilling parameters in real time, thus realizing the transition from "empirical" to "scientific" drilling. The company has realized a breakthrough shift from "experience drilling" to "scientific drilling".

Guo Xusheng said that the Yuejin 3-3XC well is located outside the red line of the Tarim River Upper Wetland Nature Reserve, but the oil and gas extracted comes from the ultra-deep layer of more than 7,200 meters below the reserve, several kilometers away. NWOF innovatively utilized the ultra-deep large displacement technology to obtain rich oil and gas resources after extending 3,400 meters horizontally under the formation. At the same time, in order to accurately find hydrocarbons in the "deep and dark" underground through large displacement horizontal wells, it is also necessary to equip the drill bit with "eyes". Northwest Oilfield adopts ultra-deep, high-temperature and high-efficiency directional technology, using high-precision drilling measurement and control systems to transmit signals to the ground in real time at a depth of 7,000 meters or less, so that the drill bit is like an "eye", adjusting the trajectory of the drill bit at any time.

In recent years, 60% of the world's new oil and gas reserves come from deep formations. Deep and ultra-deep strata have also become the main position of China's major oil and gas discoveries, China's deep and ultra-deep oil and gas resources amounted to 67.1 billion tons of oil equivalent, accounting for 34% of the country's total oil and gas resources. In the Tarim Basin, for example, oil and natural gas resources buried at a depth of 6,000 to 10,000 meters alone account for 83.2 per cent and 63.9 per cent of its total, with huge exploration potential.