Current Status and Development Trends of Petroleum Engineering Technology Advances

　　Source: China Petrochemical News Time: 2025-09-29 09:47

　　□ Wang Mingsheng, Director of the Petroleum Engineering Technology Research Institute of Sinopec and Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee

　　Petroleum engineering technology is a crucial means for discovering oil and gas reservoirs, establishing oil and gas flow channels, increasing single-well production, reducing overall oil and gas costs, and achieving efficient development. It plays a pivotal role in oil and gas exploration and development.

　　Advances in petroleum engineering technology have fueled the “shale revolution” in North America. As a result, U.S. shale gas production has surged from 33.5 billion cubic meters per year in 2014 to 831.2 billion cubic meters per year in 2024, accounting for 79% of U.S. natural gas production and 21% of global natural gas production, thereby reshaping the global energy landscape. These technological advancements have lowered the break-even points for oil and gas exploration and development. Globally, the break-even point for tight oil and gas has dropped from about $80 per barrel in 2014 to around $40 per barrel by 2024, while the break-even point for offshore oil and gas has fallen by nearly 35%. As oil and gas exploration and development continue to push into deeper, more complex, and increasingly extreme environments, advances in engineering technology have become the core driving force behind breaking through the triple limits—geological, environmental, and economic.

　　Petroleum engineering technology continues to achieve innovative breakthroughs.

　　Deep-well and ultra-deep-well technologies are propelling oil and gas exploration into the "10,000-meter era," and both domestically and internationally, breakthroughs have been achieved in drilling and equipment at the 10,000-meter level. Offshore oil and gas engineering is advancing toward ultra-deep waters, with subsea production systems and high-end equipment providing critical support for deepwater development. Shale oil and gas extraction has significantly reduced costs and improved efficiency through long-horizontal-section drilling and highly efficient fracturing techniques. In mature oilfields, intelligent branch wells and sidetracking technologies are unlocking low-grade resources. Breakthroughs have also been made in new-energy engineering technologies such as geothermal and hydrogen energy, while smart technologies have markedly enhanced drilling efficiency and safety.

　　The engineering and equipment technologies for ultra-deep and super-deep wells are developing rapidly, driving oil and gas exploration and development toward depths of 10,000 meters. Companies such as NOV (National Oilwell Varco) and Cameron have developed 15,000-meter drilling rigs and associated equipment suitable for drilling at depths of 10,000 meters. These rigs employ casing/liner drilling technology to quickly penetrate complex geological formations, use specialized tools to enlarge wellbores and optimize wellbore structures, and have developed high-performance drill bits and downhole tools, high-temperature and high-density drilling fluids, as well as temperature- and pressure-resistant measurement instruments—thus propelling deep-earth oil and gas exploration into a new phase. In the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, commercial development of deep-layer oil and gas resources at depths of 10,000 meters has been achieved, with the drilling cycle for ultra-deep wells in this region lasting approximately 260 days. Domestically, China has successfully developed key equipment including 12,000-meter drilling rigs, the DQ-120 series top drives, and 70-MPa mud pumps, thereby establishing robust engineering and technological capabilities for ultra-deep well drilling. This has provided crucial support and assurance for the exploration and development of ultra-deep oil and gas resources in basins such as the Tarim Basin, Sichuan Basin, and Junggar Basin. In January 2025, China’s first ultra-deep scientific exploration well—the Shendi Tako 1 well—reached a total depth of 10,910 meters and was successfully completed. This marks a significant breakthrough in onshore drilling capability, exceeding the 10,000-meter mark for the first time. It represents another major advancement in the field of deep-earth exploration following previous achievements in "deep space" and "deep sea," signaling China’s entry into a new era of ultra-deep oil and gas exploration.

　　Offshore oil and gas engineering technology is advancing into deeper waters, and deepwater drilling and completion technologies and equipment are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Among overseas offshore oil and gas exploration wells, approximately 50% have water depths exceeding 1,200 meters. Drilling platforms (vessels) have evolved to the seventh generation, with a maximum operating water depth of 3,658 meters and a maximum drilling depth capability of 15,240 meters. To mitigate the impact of wind, waves, currents, ice, and other environmental factors on operations, subsea processing facilities have already been put into field use, employing underwater equipment to process the produced oil and gas, thereby enabling economically efficient development of offshore oil and gas resources. Domestically, through tracking and learning from international practices, cooperative technology imports, and independent innovation, China has achieved a significant leap—from shallow water and mid-depth water to ultra-deep water. A series of “national strategic assets,” exemplified by the 15,000-meter ultra-deepwater semi-submersible drilling platform, the 7,500-ton fully rotatable crane vessel, and the “Deep Sea No. 1” production platform, have been developed. China now possesses complete technological and equipment capabilities across the entire industrial chain for deepwater oil and gas exploration and development, making deepwater oil and gas an important growth engine for China’s oil and gas production. The LW22-1-1 well, with a drilling water depth of 2,619 meters, has set a new record for the deepest drilling operation in the western Pacific Ocean.

　　Shale oil and gas engineering technologies continue to undergo continuous upgrades and iterations, with overall costs steadily declining. In North America, a super-single-trip drilling technology for horizontal wells has been developed. In the Permian Basin, the drilling cycle per well has been shortened from 35 to 40 days in 2008 to just 14.7 days in 2024. The BW Edge MSH 210H well, completed by Expand Energy in the Utica Shale region of West Virginia, USA, reached a total depth of 10,518 meters, with a horizontal section measuring 8,430 meters and a single-trip drilling footage of 9,256 meters. By comprehensively considering geological conditions, technological capabilities, and economic benefits, the company has transformed fracturing concepts and operational approaches, adopting zipper-style and simultaneous dual-well fracturing techniques, achieving an average operational efficiency of 10.8 stages per day. Currently, the company is promoting simultaneous triwell and quadwell fracturing technologies, with fracturing efficiencies reaching up to 27 stages per day. Domestically, through focused research and technological breakthroughs in unconventional oil and gas drilling and fracturing engineering, China has forged a path of independent innovation amid complex geological challenges. As a result, national-level shale gas demonstration zones have been established in Fuling-South Sichuan, Changning-Weiyuan, and Zhaotong, Yunnan, as well as national-level shale oil demonstration zones in Jimusar, Xinjiang; Gulong, Daqing; and Jiyang, Shengli. Shale oil and gas production has now entered a new stage of large-scale commercial development.

　　Enhanced oil recovery technologies for mature oilfields and complex reservoirs are further unlocking low-grade oil and gas resources. Abroad, technologies such as intelligent multi-lateral wells, novel fishbone wells, and sidetracking of old wells have been adopted to revive aging wells and achieve renewed growth in production and reserves. Building on multi-lateral well drilling technology, Saudi Aramco has developed the Maximum Reservoir Contact (MRC) and Enhanced Reservoir Contact (ERC) technologies. By leveraging wireless control technology, they can remotely manage downhole multi-lateral completion systems from the surface. The intelligent multi-lateral well SHYB-220 achieved a reservoir contact displacement of 12.3 kilometers and an average daily oil production of 1,644 tons. Compared with conventional techniques like hydraulic fracturing and profile modification used to enhance oil and gas production in mature fields, sidetracking technology offers significant advantages in tapping the potential of aging oilfields. In Russia, sidetracking operations account for 60% of the global total, with approximately 3,500 sidetracked wells drilled annually. The proportion of horizontal sidetracked wells is steadily increasing, now accounting for 76% of the total footage drilled in sidetracking operations. Domestically, integrated approaches involving exploration and development, geological engineering, scientific research and production, and organizational management have been implemented. Technologies such as large well clusters, sidetracking of old wells, and multi-lateral wells are being widely promoted and applied, expanding the scope of horizontal well plus volumetric fracturing applications. As a result, the contribution rate and economic benefits of newly built capacity are steadily improving.

　　New-engineering technologies in emerging energy fields are driving the energy transition and green, low-carbon development. Foreign oil and gas companies are actively expanding into new energy sectors such as geothermal, hydrogen energy, and energy storage, and are coordinating these efforts with their oil and gas exploration and development projects to achieve green and low-carbon oil and gas production. At the Cape Station geothermal project of U.S.-based Fervo Energy, a dual-well injection-production system employs horizontal well drilling combined with staged fracturing technology. The injection-production wells have a vertical depth of 2,590 meters and a horizontal section length of 1,500 meters. The project has completed 80 stages of multi-well zipper-style staged fracturing, yielding 9,245 cubic meters per day of high-temperature fluid at 195 degrees Celsius—setting a world record for single-well flow rate and power output in enhanced geothermal systems. The U.S. ACES project uses a 220-megawatt alkaline electrolyzer to produce hydrogen, which is then stored in underground salt caverns. These caverns have a diameter of 66.88 meters, a height of 364.8 meters, and a top depth of 1,064 meters, with an energy storage capacity of 300 gigawatt-hours. Domestically, technologies such as forced-convection heat extraction and low-cost branch-well tools have been developed, forming key technologies for efficient, multi-layer, three-dimensional heat extraction and injection. A national demonstration project for 300-megawatt-hour compressed-air energy storage in salt caverns has now entered commercial operation.

　　Intelligent petroleum engineering technologies are rapidly advancing, significantly enhancing operational efficiency and safety. Abroad, automated drilling technologies continue to improve, and petroleum engineering is increasingly integrating with digital technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence. Schlumberger leverages AI models to predict wellbore integrity risks and optimize ultra-deepwater operations. At its Performance Live™ center, it centrally manages directional drilling, logging-while-drilling (LWD), and completion services, markedly reducing non-productive time (NPT). Halliburton’s intelligent fracturing system uses downhole sensors to continuously monitor perforation cluster uniformity and fracture geometry, enabling smart decision-making and optimization of fracturing parameters based on real-time measurements. In China, Sinopec’s intelligent drilling technology has been successfully integrated into eight wells in the Shengli Oilfield’s national demonstration zone for shale oil. This integration achieves seamless data interconnection among drilling rigs, instruments, decision-support systems, and the integrated control center, resulting in a 17.44% increase in mechanical drilling speed, a 92% accuracy rate in risk diagnosis, a 100% encounter rate with high-quality reservoirs, and a 19.87% reduction in drilling cycle time.

　　Challenges Facing Petroleum Engineering Technology

　　The increasing complexity of exploration targets and the deterioration of resource quality have heightened the challenges in increasing reserves and maintaining stable production, while also raising the demands on engineering technology. The carbon neutrality goal is accelerating the green and low-carbon transformation of petroleum engineering. The integration of digitalization and intelligent technologies faces challenges such as difficulties in integrating multi-source data, insufficient algorithm adaptability, and reliance on human intervention for real-time decision-making.

　　In 2024, China’s dependence on foreign sources for crude oil reached 73.6%, and its dependence on foreign sources for natural gas stood at 41.5%, posing serious challenges to energy security in the oil and gas sector. As oil and gas exploration and development shift toward deeper and ultra-deep formations, deepwater and ultra-deepwater environments, and unconventional oil and gas resources, the exploration and development targets are becoming increasingly complex, while resource quality is deteriorating. Consequently, it is becoming ever more difficult to significantly increase reserves and maintain stable production levels, placing higher demands on innovation in petroleum engineering technologies.

　　The global response to climate change is having broad and profound impacts on the oil and gas industry. China has pledged to reach peak carbon emissions by 2030 and strive to achieve carbon neutrality before 2060. As a significant source of carbon emissions, the effectiveness of carbon reduction efforts in oil and gas exploration and development directly affects the achievement of our overall goals of peaking carbon emissions and attaining carbon neutrality. Therefore, the petroleum engineering sector needs to step up its efforts to promote green and low-carbon development and enhance its capacity for low-carbon operations.

　　Digitalization and intelligentization are driving a new round of technological and industrial transformation, continuously penetrating and integrating into the oil and gas industry. However, the integration of multi-source heterogeneous data in petroleum engineering remains challenging, data cleansing is extremely difficult, institutional barriers hinder cross-departmental data sharing, deep learning algorithms lack sufficient adaptability to abnormal operating conditions, and real-time decision-making models rely on manual adjustments for iterative updates—thus far, these systems have yet to develop autonomous evolutionary capabilities.

　　Development Directions for Next-Generation Petroleum Engineering Technology

　　Technological development will focus on “two deep and one non” approaches—expanding reserves and boosting production, leveraging digital and intelligent technologies to reduce costs, and promoting a green transition. Key breakthroughs will be made in six major areas: drilling beyond 10,000 meters, deepwater drilling and completion, enhancing the efficiency of unconventional resources, tapping the potential of mature oilfields, integrating new energy sources, and smart well construction. This will help build a new-generation technology system that is high-end, intelligent, and environmentally friendly.

　　After years of sustained efforts and breakthroughs, China’s petroleum engineering technology system has basically met the needs of oil and gas exploration and development. However, under the dual imperatives of ensuring national energy security and achieving net-zero carbon emissions, petroleum engineering technologies must not only enhance overall economic efficiency but also embark on a path of low-carbon development. Against the backdrop of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and energy transformation, consensus is growing around three key strategies: “two deep and one non,” namely, increasing reserves and production through deep exploration and development; leveraging digital and intelligent technologies to reduce costs and boost efficiency; and promoting green, low-carbon transformation and development. The integrated development of oil and gas with new energy sources places even higher demands on innovation in petroleum engineering technologies. Focusing on the main battleground of oil and gas as well as new energy, we must firmly anchor ourselves on the directions of “high-end, intelligent, and green” development, consolidate the technological foundation for the traditional oil and gas industry, proactively cultivate and develop advantageous technologies that will support the growth of emerging industries in the future, strengthen our capacity for original innovation and critical technology supply, and thereby bolster the creation of new, high-quality productive forces in the upstream oil and gas sector.

　　First, addressing the challenging technical issues related to safe and efficient well construction under complex geological conditions in ultra-deep and extremely deep oil and gas reservoirs, we have made breakthroughs in advanced geological risk prediction technologies, 15,000-meter heavy-duty drilling equipment, high-efficiency rock-breaking tools for hard formations, downhole measurement and control instruments capable of withstanding temperatures up to 220 degrees Celsius, chemical agents and sealing materials resistant to temperatures as high as 260 degrees Celsius, and ultra-high temperature and ultra-high pressure reservoir completion and stimulation technologies. We have established a 10,000-meter oil and gas well construction engineering technology system that encompasses “theoretical methods, key equipment, working fluids, tools and instruments, and supporting processes,” thereby enhancing our operational capabilities in ultra-deep and extremely deep reservoirs under extreme environmental conditions.

　　Second, in response to the challenges posed by the complex geological conditions of deepwater marine environments and the high risks associated with drilling operations, we will continue to accelerate the localization of advanced technological equipment for offshore engineering, enhance safety and emergency response capabilities for deepwater operations, and achieve breakthroughs in key technologies such as deepwater pressure-control drilling, high-temperature and high-pressure drilling and completion, high-performance environmentally friendly drilling fluids, and long-life subsea completions. By establishing a comprehensive engineering technology system for deepwater and ultra-high temperature and pressure environments, we will provide robust technical support for the efficient exploration and development of offshore oil and gas resources.

　　Third, in response to challenges such as poor economic returns from unconventional oil and gas development and the difficulty of reducing costs while improving efficiency, we are developing advanced technologies—including fine reservoir identification and evaluation, drilling of ultra-long horizontal sections extending up to 5,000 meters, real-time remote logging while drilling, high-performance rotary steerable systems, and precision fracturing—to accelerate operations, enhance efficiency, and boost production. This will establish a new-generation engineering technology system for unconventional oil and gas, meeting the exploration and development needs of shale oil, deep shale gas, and deep coalbed (rock) gas. These technologies will significantly reduce the cost per ton of oil produced, enabling economically efficient development of unconventional oil and gas resources.

　　Fourth, in response to the challenges faced by mature oilfields—such as complex oil-water-gas relationships and low single-well production—research is being conducted on advanced branch drilling technologies, maximum reservoir contact (ERC) drilling, ultra-short-radius radial drilling, sidetracking of old wells, flow adjustment and water control combined with fracture-induced water control, and large-scale balanced fracturing of multiple thin layers. These specialized techniques aim to achieve “multiple control from a single well, high production with fewer wells,” thereby reducing the overall cost per well and meeting the demands for three-dimensional development of multiple reservoirs and economically viable exploitation of hard-to-mobilize oil and gas resources.

　　Fifth, we will continue to focus on key areas such as the development of high-temperature geothermal and enhanced geothermal systems (EGS), underground energy storage, carbon dioxide capture and utilization, and energy conservation and emission reduction throughout the entire oil and gas exploration and production process. Specifically, we will tackle challenges related to efficient rock-breaking in complex-structure geothermal wells, reservoir stimulation, and enhanced efficiency in both production and injection. We will also break through critical technologies for efficient well construction and long-term heat extraction from deep geothermal resources. Furthermore, we will conduct research on underground energy-storage technologies, overcoming technical hurdles such as evaluating the capacity of salt-cave caverns, achieving long-term sealing and cementing for large-diameter wellbores, and integrating the extraction and disposal of sediment layers in salt caverns, thereby enabling synergistic development of gas storage, hydrogen storage, and energy storage. We will expand the application of CO2 fracturing, enhanced recovery, and geological sequestration technologies, boosting the economic viability of CCS/CCUS projects and creating demonstration projects for negative-carbon initiatives. Finally, we will adopt low-energy, low-consumption equipment and optimize the operational efficiency of power-generation units to reduce fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, thus establishing a comprehensive engineering system for carbon-neutral energy technologies.

　　Sixth, focusing on the digital transformation and intelligent development of the oil and gas industry, we will expand the application of technologies such as big data, artificial intelligence, and digital twins in scenarios including drilling and completion, well logging and testing, completion testing, and fracturing and stimulation. We will conduct research on data sensing, intelligent decision-making, and intelligent control technologies, build intelligent decision-making and digital twin platforms, and leverage automated drilling equipment and advanced smart materials to achieve the goal of “all-round sensing, cloud-platform computing, big-data analytics, integrated decision-making, and optimized control” in well construction.

　 　Global Oil and Gas Drilling Market Trends

　　The offshore drilling sector has bucked the market trend and experienced a surge. In 2024, the global drilling market reached US$101.3 billion, representing an overall slight increase of 2.2%. However, onshore and offshore drilling markets have taken starkly different paths: while offshore drilling grew by 14.2% (to US$37.8 billion), onshore drilling contracted by 3.4% (to US$65.4 billion). For 2025, the global drilling market is expected to grow by 2%, with the market for jack-up rigs, drillships, semi-submersible platforms, and platform services projected to expand by more than 4%. Meanwhile, directional drilling, cementing, and drilling fluids are anticipated to remain stable.

　　Global market regions are showing significant differentiation. In 2025, the Middle East, Europe, Russia, and other markets are expected to achieve growth of over 5%, while the South American and African markets are forecast to grow by around 2%. The Asia-Pacific and North American markets, however, are expected to decline by about 3%.

　　Overall, against the backdrop of a reshaping global energy landscape, drilling companies need to “turn toward the sea,” strengthen their technological barriers, and at the same time pay close attention to the policy benefits emerging in new regions.

　　 Global Oil and Gas Completion Market Trends

　　The overall market size is shrinking, with a diverging structure. In 2024, affected by a decline in investment in unconventional oil and gas exploration and development compared to the previous year, the global completion services market saw a slight decrease, falling by 4.7% from the previous year to US$96.1 billion. In 2025, driven by stable global investment in oil and gas exploration and development, demand in the completion services market is expected to remain steady. At the segment-specific level, the testing market is forecast to grow by around 3%, while the coiled tubing equipment and services, wireline logging, and perforating markets are expected to grow by approximately 2%.

　　In terms of regional markets, South America, Russia, and other markets are expected to achieve growth of over 10% in 2025, while the Middle East and African markets are forecast to grow by more than 5%. The Asia-Pacific and North American markets, however, are expected to decline by around 3%.

　　In terms of competitive dynamics, the completion services market is witnessing increasingly fierce supply competition, with monopolistic dominance by industry giants intensifying. The CR8—the combined market share of the top eight companies—has risen to 38%. Large oilfield service companies continue to enhance their competitiveness in the completion services sector and maintain their leadership positions in certain specialized niche markets.

　　Overall, in the face of market differentiation, companies can timely shift resources toward high-potential areas such as offshore operations and emerging businesses, while simultaneously strengthening their technological barriers to better compete with industry giants.

　　(Source: Global Oil and Gas Engineering Industry Development Report (2025))