Sinopec drills China’s deepest geothermal exploration well
Sinopec has completed drilling China’s deepest geothermal exploration well, the Fushen-1 well in Hainan, with a depth of 5,200 m. The breakthrough will help to enhance the large-scale development and utilization of geothermal resources in South China and aid the energy structure adjustment.
The drilling goal of Fushen-1 was granite dated 250 million years ago. Since the exploration launched in August 2023, Sinopec has adopted multiple independently developed technologies, including the combination of dual-drive drilling and high-precision injection, to reach the temperature limit of hot dry rock stipulated by the national energy industry standards.
Next, Sinopec plans to carry out extensive research and field tests at Fushen-1 to establish the first platform integrating research, education and experimentation of deep geothermal in South China. It will also explore to formulate theoretical methods and technical systems applicable to the region and help China achieve the “Dual-Carbon” goal.
The development and application of deep geothermal has promising prospects as a stable, reliable, green and low-carbon renewable energy resource. It has the advantages of large reserves, wide distribution and is environmentally friendly.
According to China’s geological surveys, the hot dry rock geothermal resources within the range of 3 km to 10,000 m underground in China’s land area are equivalent to 856 trillion tons of standard coal. If only 2% of them are extracted, they can reach 2,993 times the annual energy consumption of China in 2023.
