CNPC Xinjiang Oilfield celebrates 70th anniversary with milestone

The national-level continental Xinjiang Jimsar shale oil demonstration zone in Jimsar county, Changji Hui autonomous prefecture, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, has produced an unprecedented 1.5 million metric tons of oil since the beginning of this year, according to China National Petroleum Corp, the country's largest oil and gas producer. The zone is the first among three of its kind in China.

Shale oil is an unconventional petroleum resource found in formations of shale rock. It's often described as oil trapped in rock crevices, with the challenging extraction process compared to "squeezing oil from a whetstone".

The Jimsar demonstration zone boasts an estimated 1 billion tons of shale oil.

This year's production figure has marked a new phase in China's shale oil development, which transitioned from technological exploration to scaled and stable production. It is seen as a practical model for the domestic development of unconventional oil and gas resources, the company said.

Such achievement was announced as the Karamay-headquartered Xinjiang Oilfield of China National Petroleum Corp, to which the shale oil demonstration zone is affiliated, celebrated its 70th anniversary on Wednesday.

On Oct 29, 1955, the Karamay No 1 Well gushed commercial oil flows, marking the birth of the Karamay Oilfield, the predecessor of CNPC's Xinjiang oilfield branch. It was the first large oilfield discovered after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Over the past 70 years, CNPC's Xinjiang oilfield branch has produced 470 million tons of crude oil and 112.1 billion cubic meters of natural gas. Crude oil production has exceeded 10 million tons annually for 24 consecutive years, the company said.

Currently, it's accelerating its green and low-carbon transition, including the construction of a 2.64 million kilowatt new energy project roughly 10 kilometers southeast of downtown Karamay, which integrates supporting coal power generation and carbon capture facilities.