Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University was visited by a delegation from one of China’s leading national state universities specializing in training personnel for the oil and gas industry. The purpose of the visit was to foster cooperation in the comprehensive study of the Earth’s evolution and deep geological processes.
The China University of Petroleum (UPC) is located in Shandong Province, a region with extensive oil fields (for example, the “Victory Field,” the second largest in the country). It is no surprise that 26% of China’s oil refining capacity is concentrated there, while the province’s economy ranks third in size with a GDP of 1.3 trillion USD.
The specialization of the region largely determines the university’s focus. Nearly 30,000 students study across its 16 faculties, forming the future talent pool for one of China’s key industries. The university encompasses 80 research laboratories, with the leading ones dedicated to deep petroleum geology and physical geography, heavy oil, reservoir geology, and the development of unconventional fields.
Today, China has concentrated its efforts on deep drilling. In May 2023, the country’s largest refining company, Sinopec, discovered hydrocarbon deposits in the Tarim Basin at a depth of more than 8,500 meters. This spurred the intensification of technological development aimed at penetrating up to 10 km and beyond beneath the Earth’s surface.
By April 2024, China had commissioned its first ultra-deep well, “A1H,” at the Enping 21-4 field in the Pearl River estuary, with a drilling depth of 9,508 meters.
The next record was set in February 2025, when the Tarim Basin yielded the “Shenjitake-1” well, reaching a depth of 10,910 meters. Drilling progressed at an unprecedented pace: 580 days in total, of which 300 were required for the last 910 meters.
“Shenjitake-1” became the deepest vertical well in Asia and the second deepest in the world. China has reached leading positions, yet Russia remains the undisputed leader with its Kola Superdeep Borehole at an unmatched 12,262 meters. Remarkably, work on the Kola project was carried out intermittently from 1970 to 1991.
The desire to combine efforts in overcoming the technical challenges of drilling and geological exploration at extreme depths brought Chinese scientists to the Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University.
Here work specialists who, more than 30 years ago, took part in the scientific research project on the Kola Peninsula, and who in 2012 and 2015 carried out the unique operation of penetrating Lake Vostok in Antarctica at a depth of more than 3,000 meters. They are now preparing to drill an ultra-deep well in the Timan-Pechora petroleum province in the Komi Republic, with a planned depth of 8,000 meters. The license has already been obtained. The goal is to study the genesis of the Earth and to determine the presence of new reserves of recoverable natural resources.
«At the Mining University, specialists of the highest level are working, and we would like to propose a joint project on deep drilling. Our university staff participated in the creation of both wells — ‘A1H’ and ‘Shenjitake-1’ — carrying out logging and geophysics. In addition, China has many other wells in the 6–8 km range, in the development of which we have gained significant experience in geology, geophysics, logging, and drilling operations. I am confident that cooperation between the working teams of our universities will be in high demand and of great importance for both countries. Within this partnership, we are ready for academic exchange, participation in conferences, co-authorship of publications, and the implementation of research in the fields of geochemistry, drilling, enhanced oil recovery, and raw material processing», - emphasized Vice President of the China University of Petroleum Dai Caili, who headed the delegation.
Rector of the Mining University Vladimir Litvinenko confirmed readiness for cooperation and highlighted the importance of developing a comprehensive working program for 2025–2026 that would take into account all areas of activity. He also proposed, along with Taiyuan University of Technology, to participate in the creation of the Russian-Chinese University of Mineral Resources, where TUIT would be responsible for mining and UPC for oil and gas.