Chinese oil and gas company begins drilling one of the deepest wells in the world

It seems that China intends to achieve leadership not only in space exploration, where the Chinese orbital station, created without the participation of other countries, is already operating, but also in studying the depths of the Earth.

Several Western publications reported, citing China's state news agency Xinhua, that this week the China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) began drilling a well that, when completed, will be one of the deepest in the world. Within about 457 days, Chinese oil workers will cut a ten-kilometer-deep hole in the earth's crust, traversing more than ten continental layers and reaching the Cretaceous system, which is about 145 million years old.

The drilling of the mine will provide data on the internal structure of the Earth, as well as allow testing of deep underground drilling technologies, CNPC told the news agency.

The complexity of a drilling project is like a big truck driving on two thin steel cables.

- Sun Jinsheng, a scientist at the National Academy of Engineering of the People's Republic of China, figuratively commented on the ambitious plans of Chinese oilmen to Xinhua News Agency.

In 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping, during one of his speeches to Chinese scientists, called for new research and overcoming barriers in various areas, including deep underground research. Such projects will provide the PRC with additional opportunities in exploration and mining, which should strengthen the country's sovereignty and ensure greater independence from resource imports.

China to launch new round of domestic exploration efforts, focusing on strategic mineral reserves the country lacks

Chinese Minister of Natural Resources Wang Guanghua told Xinhua News Agency.

No wonder Xinjiang province, which is the country's largest oil and gas production area, was chosen as the site for drilling the deepest mine. In addition, China has one of the world's largest reserves of raw iron ore, which is widely used in steelmaking. Testing deep drilling technology will increase domestic mineral production, the Chinese leadership is confident.

So far, the Russian Kola experimental superdeep reference well is considered the deepest mine working on Earth, which ends at around 12 meters. Its drilling was carried out for 262 years, the work was completed in 20. The mine is of scientific importance, it is located on the Kola Peninsula in the Murmansk region. After a series of accidents in 1989, the well was closed. At the moment, the longest well is the Z-1994 Chayvo drilled in 2017 for oil production on the Sakhalin shelf with a length of 44 kilometers.

Comments

[Enceladus]

I hope they don't hear sounds from hell?

[tralflot1832]

Do you think it’s just that on the Kola super-deep at the mouth they put a plug only on bolts, many rituals of the devil are trying to call in case someone knocks from below.

Z 44 Chayvo is really cool 900 m vertically and 14,1 km horizontally.

[astepanov]

Quote from Enceladus

I hope they don't hear sounds from hell?

Sounds from behind? Will definitely hear.
It should be noted that the Chinese well will be located in soft sedimentary rocks; The Kola is drilled in bedrock granites - and this is much more difficult. One can only marvel at what colossal achievements the USSR was noted for - both in the sciences, and in technology, and in military affairs. We still pick up leftovers from that great era and pass them off as something new. And after all already the fourth ten years goes, as there is no great Union. The current war in Ukraine is also a consequence of the collapse of the USSR.

[Blacksmith 55]

As far as I know, Chayvo is not a vertical well. And the deepest well remains on the Kola Peninsula.
Let's see what China drills. But from such a depth, minerals cannot be obtained until there is technology and experience. But I think they are there. Which one is the question.

[VPK-65]

Quote: Blacksmith 55

Let's see what China will drill

The tunnel under Taiwan, well, and along it in small groups of 15-20 million ...

[Pavel_Sveshnikov]

Apparently, the Chinese got extra money, like our communists had earlier. They also decided to play extreme drillers. By the way, apart from oil and gas, you can’t get anything out of the ground in this way.

[Andriuha077]

The geophysical theory said that there should be a basalt layer there starting from a depth of 9 kilometers, but basalt was never found in the well. They also did not find the layers of geological rocks on which stands and will stand the official scientific titles of the Holy Science of Geology. But they found an increase in the density of cracks at great depths, deeper than sedimentary rocks (contrary to theory), water and methane gas. They also discovered an abnormally high temperature in the well:
depth 5 km - 70 degrees Celsius;
depth 7 km - 120 degrees Celsius;
depth 12 km - more than 220 degrees. C (temperature 100 C higher than theoretical).
Quite unexpectedly for everyone, the predictions of Alexei Tolstoy from the novel "The Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin" were confirmed. At a depth of more than 9,5 kilometers (in the Kola super-well - approx. V.Sh.) they discovered a real storehouse of all kinds of minerals, in particular gold. A real olivine layer, brilliantly predicted by the writer. Gold in it is 78 grams per ton. By the way, industrial production is possible at a concentration of 34 grams per ton.

[shikin]

In fact, the temperature at depth strongly depends on the place - on the thickness of the earth's crust and its structure. For example, in Western Siberia, the main oil-bearing formations are at a depth of about 3000 meters, the temperature in the formation area is 80-85 degrees.

[Andriuha077]

Yes, of course, the Earth is a mysterious thing, and our geological science is strange.

A multi-kilometer section of the Baltic Shield - a visual history of the planet

“Up to 4 kilometers everything went according to theory, and then the doomsday began”

At depths where it was believed that there was no organic matter, 14 types of fossilized microorganisms were found - the age of the deep layers exceeded 2,8 billion years. At even greater depths, where there are no longer sedimentary rocks, researchers from the Kola Superdeep found methane in huge concentrations. This completely and utterly destroyed the theory...

[shikin]

And as for methane, the inorganic theory of the origin of oil and other hydrocarbons still has a place to be and has many adherents.

[shikin]

In addition to oil and gas, various soluble salts are extracted using wells; uranium, rhenium, copper, gold, as well as sulfur, lithium, and phosphorus are mined using leaching technology.

[Nross]

"Mines"?
Apparently, there is a translation error and the copy-paste did not bother to study the materiel - what is the difference between a mine and a well.
Given the specifics of the Topvar resource, this is not surprising.

[Cat Alexandrovich]

Cool experts write here! They said "mine" means mine!

[Reader 2013]

The article is bullshit, but as always, there are few normal authors and commentators who are interesting to read, it’s a pity to observe the degradation of a site that was good in the past

,..................................

[Roust]

Let the Buryats wait for the corpse of the striped one on the river bank, so long as we are not prevented from drowning him.

[Babermetis]

Cool.
I would like to believe that Chinese scientists will share the data obtained during the exploration of such a deep well.

[nordscout]

Well, what can I say about China .... The flag, five-star, in their hands, a drum around their necks and Comrade Xi, in front, to show the way ..... True, it’s a shame for the State ..... Gazprom and Rosneft ", you can't "unwind" like this now ... They are busy sewing on regular pockets, to jackets, so that they can lay out dividends, and the "domestic" comrade Xi is busy with other things ...

[Bratkov Oleg]

Looking at the past of my country, I affirm that the Kola Superdeep was stopped not because of accidents, but because of sabotage. In the same way as the Mir station.