By Le Figaro
Posted 1 hour ago, updated 53 minutes ago
The well will be 11,000 meters deep. iuneWind / stock.adobe.com
This well will connect the earth’s crust, crossing 10 continental layers. This makes it possible to reach rocks that are 145 million years old.
China is now attacking its basements. Beijing started drilling a hole with a planned depth of 11,000 meters on May 30, The Guardian reported on June 6, citing China’s official Xinhua News Agency. According to the English daily, the declared goal of such a well by the China National Petroleum Corporation – one of the largest Chinese oil producers, which is leading this project – is “to study the internal structure and development of the earth and to provide data for geoscientific research “.
This drilling is taking place in north-west China in the Tarim Basin desert (Xinjiang), according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua. The well will connect to the earth’s crust, traversing ten continental layers. This makes it possible to reach rocks that are 145 million years old. Chinese state media hailed it as “a milestone in deep-soil exploration in China.” The project must last exactly 457 days.
“The construction difficulties of the drilling project can be compared to a large truck driving over two thin steel cables,” Sun Jinsheng, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, told Xinhua in an commentary reported by the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Guardians. The equipment used by Beijing to drill the well weighs more than 2,000 tons and will be able to withstand an atmospheric pressure equivalent to 1,300 times the Earth’s surface pressure.
energy independence
According to Chinese officials, the goal here is twofold: economic and scientific. On the one hand, Beijing is trying to increase its energy self-sufficiency in terms of oil and gas in a region known for its oil resources. This is in line with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s desire to “increase national energy supplies and push Chinese energy giants to explore for natural resources,” notes the Guardian.
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On the other hand, China hopes to collect scientific data. According to Bloomberg, such a project could identify energy and mineral resources, as well as “assess the risk of environmental disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.” Nevertheless, the geophysicist and research director at the CNRS Christophe Vigny, interviewed by Le Parisien, believes that “scientific interest is quite low” since “earthquakes are often triggered at a depth of more than 10 km below the surface”. The area selected for drilling would also show “rather low” seismicity and volcanic activity, according to the same specialist.
However, it will not be the deepest man-made hole in the world. That title still goes to the Kola well in northwestern Russia, which drilled from the 1970s through 1989. This goes back to 12,262 meters
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