China’s mining technology: smart drilling boosts oil and gas production in Tarim Basin, say scientists
- CAS reports on 3D geological model with metre-level resolution of ‘structure, rock properties and composition’ using intelligent algorithms
- Geology within Tarim Basin in northwestern China has limited traditional techniques but intelligent tech guides drill to hit best extraction points
The intelligent drilling is providing new technological support for the development of oilfields in northwestern China.
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The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) reported on production tests conducted in early August. “Tarim’s western basin well TP259-2H revealed daily outputs of 13.5 tonnes of oil and 42,000 cubic metres of natural gas, roughly five times the output of neighbouring wells,” the report said.
The project, led by Zhu Rixiang and Di Qingyun from CAS, was carried out in collaboration with the Northwestern Oilfield Exploration and Development Research Institute and Sinopec Zhongyuan Petroleum Engineering Ltd.
Tarim Basin’s Cretaceous-era oil and gas reservoirs are more than 4,000 metres (13,000 feet) deep and have a complex, uneven distribution. They separate in a layer cake structure, where rock layers are only 2-5 metres thick but fluctuate in depth for more than 10 metres.
Traditional directional drilling techniques have been limited in extracting these resources.