New discovery of 1 billion ton ultra deep oil and gas area in Tarim Basin

PetroChina announced today (18th) that after six years of intensive exploration, PetroChina has discovered another 1 billion ton ultra deep oil and gas area in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert and the Fuman area of 10000 square kilometers in the south of Tarim Basin.

Recently, manshen-2 well, a key exploration well in Fuman area of Tarim Basin, has made a major discovery in the hinterland of the desert, with a drilling depth of 8470 meters and a test oil column height of 550 meters, creating the deepest oil production record and the largest oil column height record in the great desert area of Tarim Basin.

Yang Xuewen, general manager of PetroChina Tarim Oilfield Company: we have found out the geological rules of oil and gas reservoirs. In Fuman oilfield, we have drilled 56 hundred ton wells continuously and found a new oil reserve area with a scale of 1 billion tons, which has become the biggest discovery of oil exploration in Tarim Basin in recent 10 years.

The buried depth of the main production layer in Fuman oilfield is about 8000 meters, which is the deepest and largest carbonate volatile oil reservoir discovered so far in the world. The development difficulty of Fuman oilfield is at the forefront of the world. Tarim Oilfield has overcome the technical problems of high-quality seismic data acquisition and processing technology and ultra deep complex carbonate well layout technology, which has increased the success rate of new wells from 75% to more than 95% at present, and promoted the high-efficiency development of ultra deep oil and gas in the great desert area.

Wang Qinghua, chief geologist of PetroChina Tarim Oilfield Company: this year, good news of oil and gas exploration in Fuman oilfield has been reported frequently. At present, 11 wells drilled have achieved high production of more than 100 tons, of which Manshen 3 well has achieved daily oil and gas production of more than 1600 tons, which has promoted the high-quality start of ultra deep oil and gas exploration in Tarim Basin during the 14th five year plan.

At present, 400 million tons of oil and gas grade III geological reserves have been implemented, and it is planned to implement another 500 million tons of oil and gas grade III reserves this year. During the six years from discovery to development, the annual output of crude oil in Fuman oilfield has increased from more than 30000 tons to 1.52 million tons in 2020, and it is estimated to produce 2 million tons of crude oil this year“ During the 14th Five Year Plan period, an ultra deep oilfield with an annual oil and gas equivalent of more than 5 million tons will be built, leading China's petroleum industry to develop ultra deep and complex reservoirs with high efficiency.

As of 24:00 on the 17th, Tarim Oilfield has produced more than 200 million tons of oil and gas in the hinterland of Taklimakan Desert and its edge, which is equivalent to China's total crude oil production in 2020. The development of oil and gas in the great desert area has achieved a historic leap forward.

Taklimakan desert is the second largest mobile desert in the world. The hinterland of the desert is filled with wind and sand all the year round, which is known as the "sea of death" and "forbidden zone of life". Since the 1950s, oil workers in New China have been looking for oil and gas here.

At present, more than 100 oil and gas reservoirs have been found in the hinterland of the desert in Tarim Oilfield. Under the vast sand sea, oil and gas have been discovered from 4000 to 8000 meters, and the proved oil and gas reserves are equivalent to 1.6 billion tons. For more than 30 years, oil workers have challenged the limit of ultra deep exploration and development in the hinterland of desert, and built China's third largest oil and gas field with an annual output of 30 million tons.

The Taklimakan Desert covers an area of 330000 square kilometers, equivalent to the area of 20 Beijing cities. According to the latest resource assessment, the total amount of oil and gas resources under the desert exceeds 17.8 billion tons. At present, the proven rate is about 23%. It is the area with the largest potential for increasing reserves and production in China.