Why did China start a project to drill the deepest well in the world after Russia’s project?

This project is part of a large program to exploit the subsoil called “Deep Earth”.

China began drilling a well at a depth of about 11 thousand and 100 meters for scientific exploration and also for economic purposes, and the well being drilled is located in the Tarim Basin in the Xinjiang region in northwestern China, so what are its goals from that?

The project aims to explore the depths of the earth and penetrate several layers in a new attempt to understand and study the interior of this region and the nature of its crust, which the supervisors considered a major challenge.

This is not the first time that a well has been drilled at a depth of more than 10,000 meters, as Russia, in the era of the Soviet Union, previously drilled a well of 12,262 meters in depth in 1989 on Kola Island, and it was later abandoned.

However, the difference today lies in the reduction in the project time period thanks to the modern equipment used by China, as it can complete it in about 18 months.

scientific goals

This project falls within a large program for the exploitation of the Earth’s interior called “Deep Earth”, and it is among the scientific programs launched by China recently similar to the “Deep Sea”, meaning the depth of the sea, which was actually launched last March. According to scientific reports, and “Deep Space”, which in turn aims to exploit space.

And according to what he said a report On June 8, according to the Science Alert website, China did not give many details about this project, but it seems to have several scientific goals, including the study of earthquake movements and how waves from seismic activity travel in the region.

The project also aims to study and analyze the microscopic components of plankton and fossil remains that can be found at depths of 6,000 meters or more.

The researcher involved in the project, San Jinchang of the China Engineering Agency, said, according to the website, that the task is very difficult, and it is similar in its difficulty to running a heavy-duty truck on metal wires.

economic goals

But the Futura website mentioned V a report To him, the project also has economic goals, as China aspires to explore for oil and gas in the depths of its desert, because drilling will go beyond the boundaries of rocks that were formed in the Cretaceous period that formed about 66 million years ago to 145 million years ago, which is theoretically rich in oil.

The site added that among the companies that contributed to this project, there are oil companies with long experience in oil exploration, such as Sinopec (Sinopec).

The site pointed out that the drilling area is considered one of the most important petroleum areas in China and is believed to sleep on a lot of underground resources of oil and minerals, which can contribute to supporting the country’s economy and reducing the import bill for some raw materials.

The site indicated that the cost of the project will be very high, as it was estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars, and dozens of heavy equipment will be used and economic revenues will undoubtedly be very useful for completing it and launching other projects in the future.