Sinopec: Establishing a High-Performance, Specialized Drilling Fluid Technology System to Lay a Solid Technical Foundation for Increasing Oil and Gas Reserves and Boosting Production

Drilling fluid is often referred to as the “lifeblood” of petroleum drilling operations and serves as the core technological foundation for ensuring the safe and efficient advancement of oil and gas exploration and production. Currently, global oil and gas exploration and development are continuously advancing into deeper, deeper-water, and complex unconventional areas. Drilling operations continue to face multiple challenges, including extreme high temperatures and pressures, collapse of highly water-sensitive formations, excessive friction in long horizontal sections, and stringent environmental protection standards, all of which are driving the accelerated iteration and innovation of drilling fluid technology. In light of the national energy security strategy and the broader trends in industry development, accelerating independent innovation in drilling fluid systems and overcoming a series of key technological bottlenecks has become the only path to improving drilling quality and efficiency and enabling the efficient development of deep-earth resources.

Looking at the industry as a whole, domestic drilling fluid technology is currently undergoing iterative upgrades centered on three core directions: adaptation to extreme operating conditions, the transition to green and low-carbon practices, and intelligent, precise control. This has become the core technological foundation supporting the efficient exploration and development of China’s deep and unconventional oil and gas resources.

As deep-earth engineering projects continue to advance, domestic oil and gas exploration and development are accelerating toward ultra-deep levels exceeding 10,000 meters. In major basins such as the Tarim and Sichuan, ultra-deep wells exceeding 8,000 meters have become the standard well type. Bottom-hole temperatures in most ultra-deep wells exceed 180 degrees Celsius, with key exploratory wells reaching over 210 degrees Celsius. These extreme high-temperature, high-pressure conditions and complex, fractured formations place extreme demands on the comprehensive performance of drilling fluids. Traditional conventional drilling fluid systems face challenges such as loss of rheological control at high temperatures, massive increases in fluid loss, wellbore collapse, and a sharp decline in salt and contamination resistance, rendering them unsuitable for ultra-deep drilling requirements. Take the 10,000-meter-deep “Tako-1” deep-earth well as an example: upon completion, the well reached a depth of 10,910 meters with a bottom-hole temperature of 210 degrees Celsius. Through intensive research and development of ultra-high-temperature stable water-based drilling fluid systems, the industry has effectively resolved multiple technical challenges under extreme conditions, achieving zero complex incidents in the wellbore. This has demonstrated the critical supporting role of high-end specialized drilling fluid systems in deep-earth exploration and has made ultra-high-temperature drilling fluid systems capable of operating at temperatures above 220 degrees Celsius a key focus of industry-wide research and development efforts. 

Drilling fluid is often referred to as the “lifeblood” of petroleum drilling operations and serves as the core technological foundation for ensuring the safe and efficient advancement of oil and gas exploration and production. Currently, global oil and gas exploration and development are continuously advancing into deeper, deeper-water, and complex unconventional areas. Drilling operations continue to face multiple challenges, including extreme high temperatures and pressures, collapse of highly water-sensitive formations, excessive friction in long horizontal sections, and stringent environmental protection standards, all of which are driving the accelerated iteration and innovation of drilling fluid technology. In light of the national energy security strategy and the broader trends in industry development, accelerating independent innovation in drilling fluid systems and overcoming a series of key technological bottlenecks has become the only path to improving drilling quality and efficiency and enabling the efficient development of deep-earth resources.
Looking at the industry as a whole, domestic drilling fluid technology is currently undergoing iterative upgrades centered on three core directions: adaptation to extreme operating conditions, the transition to green and low-carbon practices, and intelligent, precise control. This has become the core technological foundation supporting the efficient exploration and development of China’s deep and unconventional oil and gas resources.
As deep-earth engineering projects continue to advance, domestic oil and gas exploration and development are accelerating toward ultra-deep levels exceeding 10,000 meters. In major basins such as the Tarim and Sichuan, ultra-deep wells exceeding 8,000 meters have become the standard well type. Bottom-hole temperatures in most ultra-deep wells exceed 180 degrees Celsius, with key exploratory wells reaching over 210 degrees Celsius. These extreme high-temperature, high-pressure conditions and complex, fractured formations place extreme demands on the comprehensive performance of drilling fluids. Traditional conventional drilling fluid systems face challenges such as loss of rheological control at high temperatures, massive increases in fluid loss, wellbore collapse, and a sharp decline in salt and contamination resistance, rendering them unsuitable for ultra-deep drilling requirements. Take the 10,000-meter-deep “Tako-1” deep-earth well as an example: upon completion, the well reached a depth of 10,910 meters with a bottom-hole temperature of 210 degrees Celsius. Through intensive research and development of ultra-high-temperature stable water-based drilling fluid systems, the industry has effectively resolved multiple technical challenges under extreme conditions, achieving zero complex incidents in the wellbore. This has demonstrated the critical supporting role of high-end specialized drilling fluid systems in deep-earth exploration and has made ultra-high-temperature drilling fluid systems capable of operating at temperatures above 220 degrees Celsius a key focus of industry-wide research and development efforts. For the development of unconventional oil and gas resources such as shale oil and coalbed methane, high-performance, eco-friendly, water-based drilling fluid systems with strong inhibition and low friction have been developed to effectively replace traditional oil-based drilling fluids. These systems successfully address challenges such as wellbore stability in long horizontal sections and excessive drilling friction, while also reducing environmental disposal costs. Following their deployment in key blocks such as Northern Jiangsu and the Ordos Basin, drilling cycles have been significantly shortened, and per-well construction costs have steadily decreased. For drilling operations in ecologically sensitive areas, the Group has customized and developed eco-friendly drilling fluid systems, incorporating biodegradable additives to ensure non-toxic and harmless drilling operations and the resource-efficient disposal of waste drilling fluids, thereby supporting green exploration and development. Currently, the localization rate of the Group’s core drilling fluid additives exceeds 95 percent, with full independent control over key core technologies. Numerous achievements have reached internationally advanced levels, achieving a deep integration of technological innovation and field application.
Looking ahead to the future of the industry, the operating environment for oil and gas exploration and development will become even more complex and demanding, placing higher demands on drilling fluid technological innovation. Competition in the drilling fluid sector has long moved beyond the rudimentary stage of comparing the performance of individual additives. It has shifted toward comprehensive competition encompassing the overall compatibility of systems, full-cycle construction costs, environmental compliance throughout the entire process, and intelligent application capabilities. Efforts must therefore focus on three key areas: First, tackling special drilling fluid technologies for extreme operating conditions and overcoming technical bottlenecks in ultra-high-temperature and ultra-high-pressure environments exceeding 260 degrees Celsius to support the exploration and development of ultra-deep oil and gas resources; Second, upgrading supporting technologies for green and low-carbon drilling by developing fully bio-based, environmentally friendly drilling fluid systems and improving the efficiency of closed-loop resource recovery from waste drilling fluids to facilitate the oil and gas industry’s transition toward green and low-carbon operations; third, advancing the research and development of intelligent drilling fluid technologies by integrating online intelligent monitoring and AI-driven dynamic control technologies to create an intelligent drilling fluid system capable of adaptive adjustments and proactive risk warnings, thereby supporting the intelligent upgrading of drilling operations.