The Devil's City in Karamay, Xinjiang, holds 360 million tons of heavy crude oil.
Jan 19,2019
Xinhua News Agency, Urumqi, May 24 (Mao Yong, Zhang Wei) — Reporters learned on the 24th from the Exploration and Development Research Institute of Xinjiang Oilfield Company that researchers have discovered oil reserves of 360 million tons of heavy crude oil in the “Zhong18 Well Area” near the “Devil’s City” in Karamay. Industrial thermal recovery operations for heavy crude oil in this region are set to begin soon. Dai Xiang, a senior engineer at the Exploration and Development Research Institute of Xinjiang Oilfield Company, said that the underground area around Karamay’s “Devil’s City” is rich in heavy crude oil resources. After decades of exploration and evaluation, it has now been basically confirmed that this area holds reserves of 360 million tons of heavy crude oil. The “Zhong18 Well Area” is expected to be nominated for reserves totaling over 70 million tons.
Xinhua News Agency, Urumqi, May 24 (Mao Yong, Zhang Wei) — Reporters learned on the 24th from the Exploration and Development Research Institute of Xinjiang Oilfield Company that researchers have discovered reserves of 360 million tons of heavy oil in the "Chong 18 Well Area," near the "Devil's City" in Karamay. Industrial thermal recovery operations for heavy oil in this region are set to begin soon.
Dai Xiang, a senior engineer at the Exploration and Development Research Institute of Xinjiang Oilfield Company, said that the underground area of Karamay’s “Devil’s City” is rich in heavy oil resources. After decades of exploration and evaluation, it has now been basically confirmed that this region holds reserves of 360 million tons of heavy oil. The “Zone 18 Well” is expected to have reserves of over 70 million tons, and its development will serve as an important support for Xinjiang Oilfield to maintain its current scale of heavy oil production.
The “Chong18 Well Area” of the Karamay Oilfield is located in the western part of the Fengcheng Oilfield, on the northwestern edge of the Junggar Basin, approximately 120 kilometers from Karamay City and adjacent to the national 4A-level scenic spot known as “Devil’s City.” When developing the plan for the “Chong18 Well Area,” the Xinjiang Oilfield Exploration and Development Research Institute strictly adhered to the principle of building a green oilfield, minimizing damage to the surrounding terrain, landforms, and natural environment of the scenic area.
According to internationally accepted crude oil classification standards, crude oils with high viscosity and relatively high density are typically referred to as heavy oils—high-viscosity, heavy oils that, under the original reservoir conditions, are essentially immobile.
In the mid-to-late 1950s, Chinese petroleum explorers (11.10, 0.26, 2.40%) discovered heavy oil in the "Devil City" area. However, due to the high viscosity and poor fluidity of the crude oil, coupled with limitations in the technological and operational conditions at the time, no intensive exploration was conducted. From 2002 to 2006, as extraction technologies and technical levels improved, exploration for heavy oil in Karamay entered a new phase. In December 2008, the "Zhong32 Well Area" underwent large-scale commercial development, and steam injection thermal recovery achieved excellent results.
The heavy oil from Karamay boasts unique low-sulfur characteristics, enabling the production of specialty petroleum products—such as high-grade lubricating oils for advanced technological fields like aviation, low-pour-point diesel fuel, jet fuel, transformer oil, and rubber oil—that are highly sought after in these sectors.
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