Second Entrepreneurship, I’m in the Fight! | The Engineering Institute’s high-temperature-resistant drilling fluid treatment agent has successfully supported the completion of a super-deep well exceeding 11,116 meters—a milestone that breaks the 10,000-meter mark!

Recently, a ultra-high-temperature drilling fluid system—built around oilfield chemicals independently developed by the Engineering Research Institute of Sinopec—was successfully applied to Well Xinyuan 22 at a depth of 11,116.00 meters, with operating temperatures exceeding 230°C. This application has helped the well set several national records, including the shortest drilling cycle for a 10,000-meter well (282.52 days) and the deepest drilling depth achieved using water-based drilling fluids. This milestone marks a major technological breakthrough in Sinopec’s ultra-high-temperature drilling fluid technology for 10,000-meter wells, signaling that ultra-high-temperature products have moved from technological innovation to practical application and value creation.

Well 22, the source well, is a pre-exploration well deployed by Xinjiang Chuangyuan Petroleum & Natural Gas Development Co., Ltd. in the Tarim Basin of southern Xinjiang. After 282.52 days of intensive and arduous drilling, the well was completed at a total depth of 11,116.00 meters. The entire well was drilled using water-based drilling fluids. In the ultra-high-temperature section exceeding 10,000 meters, a water-based drilling fluid system capable of withstanding temperatures above 230°C was developed, with the institute’s self-researched ultra-high-temperature resistant additives SMPFL-240L and SMPFL-240H, along with nano-micron sealing agents, serving as the core components. At the bottomhole, under conditions of temperatures exceeding 230°C, pressures as high as 183 MPa, and a mud density of 1.65 g/cm³, this system demonstrated exceptional performance. ³ Under the drilling fluid density conditions, drilling reached a well depth of 11,116.00 m, with good rheological properties of the drilling fluid, excellent cuttings-carrying capacity, and stable wellbore conditions.

In the ultra-high-temperature section of this well—ranging from 9,958.00 m to 11,116.00 m—the combined effects of extremely high temperature, ultra-high pressure, and ultra-high stress pose significant challenges to water-based drilling fluids, including insufficient thermal stability of key materials and severe thickening of the fluid system. Following extensive laboratory evaluations conducted in the earlier stages, the SMPFL-240L and SMPFL-240H ultra-high-temperature fluid-loss reducers, independently developed by the Engineering Institute, demonstrated outstanding thermal stability and excellent compatibility with drilling muds among more than ten similar high-temperature-resistant products sourced domestically and internationally. As a result, these products have earned the trust of our customers and have been successfully procured. During the drilling operations in the 10,000-meter section, technical personnel from the Engineering Institute collaborated closely with on-site expert engineers to tackle the challenges. Using the Engineering Institute’s ultra-high-temperature fluid-loss reducers and nano-micron sealing agents as core treatment agents, they conducted nearly a hundred experimental trials to develop an ultra-high-temperature water-based drilling fluid system. This system enabled the well to successively achieve its drilling targets at 10,400.00 m, 10,700.00 m, and 11,116.00 m, continuously surpassing the originally designed performance parameters. During the logging operation after reaching 10,700.00 m, a super-high-temperature sealing slurry was formulated with SMPFL-240H as the core treatment agent. Under the extreme conditions of ultra-high temperature and ultra-high pressure (220℃, 173 MPa) downhole, this slurry remained stable for three days without settling or thickening, thereby ensuring the smooth completion of the logging operations.

R&D personnel providing on-site technical support at Well 22 of the information source.

The ultra-high-temperature products SMPFL-240L and SMPFL-240H, which have now been applied to the 10,000-meter well, are ultra-high-temperature fluid-loss control agents developed by the high-temperature, high-density drilling fluid technology team. These products, bearing fully independent intellectual property rights, were created under the auspices of several Group Science and Technology Department projects, including the “Technology for Wellbore Fluids in Ultra-Deep Wells Reaching 10,000 Meters.” During the R&D process, the team focused on overcoming the critical bottleneck of material thermal stability, adhering firmly to original innovation. They successively broke through a series of key technical hurdles, including molecular structure design, precise control of polymerization parameters, and optimization of pilot-scale processes. Building on the earlier successful development and field application of the high-viscosity fluid-loss control agent SMPFL-240H in a well located in the Northwest working area, the team promptly responded to the clear demand from the 10,000-meter well’s drilling fluid system for a low-viscosity fluid-loss control agent. In just three months, they completed the indoor design, synthesis, system compatibility studies, and pilot-scale process optimization for the low-viscosity product SMPFL-240L. The smooth completion of sales of these two products to external customers marks a crucial step forward in the commercial application of the Engineering Institute’s advanced oilfield chemicals—and more importantly, it validates the outcomes of “agile innovation” through tangible application benefits.

The technical team is developing a high-temperature, ultra-high-density drilling fluid system.

The ultra-high-temperature drilling fluid treatment agent independently developed by the Engineering Institute, along with the ultra-high-temperature drilling fluid system built around it, has been successfully applied in a 10,000-meter-deep well. This milestone marks that the Institute’s independently developed ultra-high-temperature drilling fluid treatment agent and system have overcome world-class challenges—including ultra-high temperatures exceeding 11,000 meters, ultra-high pressures, and complex geological formations—demonstrating the Institute’s commitment to safeguarding national energy security and serving as a key force in achieving high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and strength. It also represents a vivid practice of the Institute’s efforts to deeply integrate technological innovation with industrial innovation, and to strengthen agile innovation and agile support. The Oil & Chemical Center, the Northwest Center, and the Tianjin Technology Company have worked in close collaboration and as a unified team, efficiently advancing the entire process—from business negotiations and contract signing to product manufacturing, on-site delivery, and technical support—thus highlighting not only the team’s robust R&D capabilities and highly efficient collaborative skills, but also the Institute’s R&D team’s spirit of tackling tough challenges head-on, working rigorously and pragmatically, and enduring hardships without fear. These efforts have earned high praise and sincere gratitude from our clients. Looking ahead, the high-temperature, high-density drilling fluid technology team will continue to focus on breakthroughs in critical core technologies, uphold the integration of “innovation and entrepreneurship,” and concentrate on agile innovation and agile support. On this new journey of secondary entrepreneurship, we will bravely shoulder our mission and strive to be pioneers, providing the core “tools” needed to solve the challenging problems associated with ultra-deep and extremely deep well drilling and completion, and offering solid technological support for Sinopec’s safe and efficient exploration of wells at depths of 10,000 meters.