Domestically-developed oil rig's debut in scientific research a success

China's first continental scientific oil rig capable of drilling up to the depth of more than 10,000 meters, primarily developed by Changchun-based Jilin University, was announced to complete its drilling of a borehole with the depth of 7,018 meters on June 2.

The rig, Earth's Crust 1, or “Diqiao 1”, made China the third country to successfully develop the 10,000-meter drilling rig in the world, following Russia and German, after having the deepest borehole to be drilled for scientific purposes in Asia.

It was considered as a significant achievement in China's deep-Earth exploration by five academicians attending a seminar on the rig drilling task in Songliao Basin on the same day.

Songliao Basin, one of the largest continental sedimentary basins in the world, holds China's most important reserves of oil and natural gas.

Early in 2013, Jilin University developed the Earth's Crust 1, filling the gap in the deep continental scientific drilling equipment and greatly improving the drilling technology of ultra deep wells in the country.

The Earth's Crust 1 has finished a group of complicated tasks, such as large diameter drilling, core drilling, well drilling and reaming and withstood the low temperature in winter over the previous five years, said Li Yuanyuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and the president of the university.

The drilling rig has worked for 1,163 days with a utilization rate of failure free operation standing at 97.63 percent, setting a record for similar equipment in China and reaching an internationally advanced level, Li added.

"The Earth's Crust 1 has dug 9,843.67 meters in total and the highest it dug was 265 meters a day, with speeds that can reach 28.8 m per hour," said Sun Youhong, R & D director, deputy president of Jilin University. "

It also set the record of daily operation and drilling efficiency in China, Sun noted.

"The technological achievements made on the Earth's Crust 1 have been successfully promoted to the low-temperature drilling rigs in China. The Jiguang rig, China’s first oil rig that can work under minus 55 degrees Celsius has been applied to an oil and gas exploration in the Arctic alpine region in Russia," Sun added.

According to Jilin University, it has been working on the design and research of the Earth's Crust 2, an upgraded version of the Diqiao 1, hoping to conduct exploration and experimental research in the earth as deep as 15,000 meters.