Ultra-deep oil, gas production hit milestone in Tarim oilfield

China's largest ultra-deep oil and gas production base, the Tarim oilfield, has extracted 150 million metric tons of oil and gas equivalent from formations deeper than 6,000 meters so far, as China's oil giants accelerate ultra-deep exploration and technological advances to bolster energy security in recent years.

This accounts for 37 percent of the country's total oil and gas output last year, said its operator China National Petroleum Corp on Thursday.

Globally, formations deeper than 4,500 meters are classified as deep, while those exceeding 6,000 meters are considered ultra-deep.

Tarim oilfield, located in the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has accelerated ultra-deep oil and gas development in recent years, with daily output continuously rising, making ultra-deep reserves a key driver of production growth, said CNPC.

The Tarim oilfield will further expand exploration into deep and ultra-deep desert formations this year, it said.

Industry experts believe China's push to boost domestic oil and gas production is a strategic move to strengthen energy security amid volatile global energy markets and geopolitical uncertainties.

"Achievements of Tarim oilfield are also a reflection of China's advancing technological capabilities in ultra-deep drilling, an area historically dominated by international energy behemoths," said Lu Ruquan, head of CNPC's Economics and Technology Research Institute.

China's oil giants have in recent years been accelerating technological advances in oil exploitation in different spheres, looking to boost domestic oil and gas exploration and exploitation to further enhance the nation's energy security.

As a result, China's external oil procurement ratio dropped 0.5 percentage point last year to 71.9 percent, according to industry data.

Figures released by the General Administration of Customs reveal that China's crude oil imports fell 1.9 percent in 2024, totaling 553.4 million tons, equivalent to 11.04 million barrels per day, compared with the 2023 record of 11.28 million barrels per day.

The drilling of China's first ultra-deep scientific exploration well, Shenditake 1, was recently completed at a depth of 10,910 meters, making it the deepest vertical well in Asia and the second-deepest in the world, as well as a milestone in China's deep-earth scientific research and ultra-deep oil and gas exploration.

As China's first scientific exploration borehole designed to exceed a depth of 10,000 meters, the Shenditake 1 project further provides a solid technological foundation for pushing the limits of deep-earth exploration and developing ultra-deep oil and gas resources, said Wang Chunsheng, chief expert of CNPC's Tarim oilfield, which was in charge of the drilling.