We will advance 10,000 meters underground to dig for oil and gas treasures; produce the "king of new materials" to lay a solid material foundation for a strong manufacturing country; integrate thermal hydrogen and wind and solar power to complement each other, and give back to nature with the "gift" of nature...
As the world's largest oil refining company and second largest chemical company, Sinopec is focusing on upgrading traditional industries and promoting the transformation of industries to high-end, intelligent and green industries. On the other hand, it is cultivating and expanding emerging industries, proactively planning future industries, supplying green energy, contributing "hard-core" technology, and cultivating new quality productivity with strong technological competitiveness.
Advance in scientific and technological innovation to secure energy jobs
In May, the poplar forests in the Tarim Basin of Xinjiang began to sprout new buds. The "Shendi No. 1" Yuejin 3-3XC oil and gas well deployed by Sinopec here produces 160 tons of crude oil and 40,000 cubic meters of natural gas every day.
The depth of this oil and gas well is close to 10,000 meters. It was completed in October 2023, breaking two records at that time: the deepest well inclination depth and ultra-deep drilling horizontal displacement in Asia, marking that my country's "deep earth technology" has entered the forefront of the world.
Deep and ultra-deep layers are the main battlefields for oil and gas discovery in my country, with proven oil and gas resources exceeding 67 billion tons, accounting for more than 30% of the country's oil and gas resources. The "Deep Earth No. 1" project has discovered five billion-ton oil and gas areas.
"We need resources, reserves and output from scientific and technological innovation." Ma Yongsheng, chairman of Sinopec, said that scientific and technological innovation is the core element of new quality productivity and the lifeline of industrial development.
Over the years, Sinopec has stepped up its efforts in oil and gas exploration and development, and has innovated to increase oil and gas reserves, production and efficiency, achieving a leap from continental to marine, from clastic rocks to carbonate rocks, from medium-shallow layers to ultra-deep layers, from land to sea, from conventional to unconventional, and from domestic to overseas...
The way to achieve a leap forward is through innovation. To ensure a stable energy supply, Sinopec has placed its strategic focus on technological innovation to foster new productivity and stimulate new vitality in the energy industry:
- Master key core technologies.
Sinopec continues to lead the innovation of unconventional oil and gas technology, making breakthroughs in marine shale gas exploration and development technology, strongly supporting the stable production of the Fuling shale gas field, and making my country the first country outside North America to achieve commercial development of shale gas; innovatively forming ultra-deep exploration and development technology of 8,000 to 9,000 meters, supporting the construction and production of the Shunbei oil and gas field in the Tarim Basin in Xinjiang.
- Promote the localization of major equipment.
In recent years, the difficulty of global oil and gas exploration and development has gradually increased, placing higher demands on oil and gas equipment. Sinopec will continue to work hard to make breakthroughs in the fields of electric fracturing equipment, high-end drill bits and other world-leading equipment to support the high-quality development of the entire industry chain.
Leaping to a "high" level, breaking through the blockade of new materials, becoming self-reliant and self-reliant
Oil is the mother of industry, a basic energy source, and an important industrial raw material. Chemical industry is related to the security and stability of the industrial chain and supply chain. New materials are the downstream of chemical industry and belong to strategic and basic industries.
The world's fastest high-speed rail CR450 EMU, which is about to roll off the production line this year, has its fully loaded "weight" reduced from more than 500 tons to more than 460 tons. New materials such as carbon fiber have played an important role in this.
Carbon fiber is a rare material used in aerospace and other fields. It is as thin as a hair and weighs less than 1/4 of steel, but its strength is 7 to 9 times that of steel and it is highly corrosion-resistant. It is known as "black gold" and "the king of new materials."
However, the core technology of carbon fiber has long been monopolized by overseas countries. In order to achieve localization, Sinopec has gone through more than 10 years of research and development and exploration, and successfully cracked the key technology of large-tow carbon fiber, changing the situation of my country's dependence on imports of large-tow carbon fiber.
Carbon fiber is just a microcosm of Sinopec's high-quality development in the field of new materials.
On the Lingdingyang, Sinopec used ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene fibers, which are only 1/10 the thickness of a hair, to make cables to hoist the 6,000-ton immersed tube tunnel of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge.
High-performance polybutene, flame-retardant polypropylene resin, barrier application materials... In the 2023 innovative products of new chemical materials recently announced by the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, 7 products of Sinopec are on the list, laying a solid "material foundation" for building a manufacturing power.
In May, on the coast of the East China Sea, the 11 million tons/year oil refining and high-end synthetic new materials project of the Zhenhai base entered the peak of construction. After completion, it will improve the competitiveness and market share of domestic high-end chemicals.
In addition to the Zhenhai base, the construction pace of cluster projects such as the Luoyang million-ton ethylene project and green petrochemical advanced materials industrial base, Tianjin Nangang high-end new materials, etc. is also accelerating... Sinopec is promoting the integrated cluster development of strategic emerging industries and accelerating the cultivation of new quality productivity.
Strive for "new" development, develop thermal hydrogen, wind and solar power
In early summer in the Aksu region of Xinjiang, more than 500,000 photovoltaic panels stretch out like a blue ocean in the photovoltaic power plant of Sinopec’s Kuche green hydrogen demonstration project.
This project is an important exploration by Sinopec in the field of photovoltaic hydrogen production. It combines photovoltaic power generation with hydrogen preparation, and uses the electricity generated by photovoltaics to electrolyze water to produce hydrogen.
Green is the underlying color of high-quality development, and new quality productivity itself is green productivity. "Sinopec is accelerating green scientific and technological innovation and promoting the application of advanced green technologies, strengthening the green energy industry, developing green and low-carbon industries and supply chains, and building a green, low-carbon circular economic system," said Ma Yongsheng.
Thermal hydrogen, wind and solar power complement each other. Sinopec uses the "green content" of the industry to improve the "gold content" of development, which not only provides a fundamental solution to ecological and environmental problems, but also injects surging green momentum into high-quality development.
- Focus on hydrogen transportation and green hydrogen refining, and accelerate the establishment of the entire hydrogen energy industry chain.
Sinopec has accelerated the construction of hydrogen refueling stations for hydrogen fuel cell vehicle demonstration city clusters and key areas such as Shandong, Chengdu and Chongqing. At present, 11 hydrogen fuel cell hydrogen supply centers have been built and 128 hydrogen refueling stations have been developed.
At the same time, the planned "West-to-East Hydrogen" pipeline will transport Ulanqab's "green hydrogen" to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region through a pipeline, helping to achieve green and low-carbon development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
- Continue to deepen the development of geothermal field and become the largest geothermal energy development and utilization enterprise in China.
Sinopec has built nearly 100 million square meters of geothermal heating, innovatively formed two basic theories of geothermal system formation mechanism and heat storage and heat transfer mechanism, and mastered the engineering technology of "extracting heat without consuming water".
The construction of my country's first carbon-neutral gas station, Hong Kong's first public hydrogen refueling station, Shanxi's first heavy-duty truck battery swap station... Each landmark new energy project demonstrates Sinopec's practice and exploration in accelerating the cultivation of new quality productivity.
