China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) announced Thursday that it has completed the drilling of the deepest vertical well in Asia, as a borehole reached a depth of 10,910 meters in China's northwestern desert.

Located in the heart of the Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, the well, known as "Shenditake 1," is a scientific exploration project.

Staff members pose for a group photo as they celebrate the completion of the drilling of "Shenditake 1," an ultra-deep borehole reaching 10,910 meters, in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Feb. 20, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Completing this well has strengthened China's ultra-deep oil and gas exploration capabilities. With upgraded domestically-developed drilling technologies and equipment, scientists have also made a significant step forward in understanding the Earth's history, geological evolution and ancient climate changes.

Setting new records

The Tarim Basin contains vast, deep-seated oil and gas reserves that are flanked by the Tianshan and Kunlun mountains. However, it is also one of the most challenging regions to explore due to its harsh surface conditions and complex underground structures.

The vertical well, the second deepest across the world, also made other engineering breakthroughs globally, including the deepest liner cementing, deepest wireline imaging logging and fastest onshore drilling to exceed 10,000 meters.

According to CNPC, drilling began on May 30, 2023. It took over 580 days to complete the 10,910-meter drilling, with more than half of the time -- some 300 days --- spent on the final 910 meters.

"Every additional meter increases drilling complexity exponentially," said Min Peng, director of the drilling platform, who has been stationed on-site throughout the project.

After such continuous effort, the well has penetrated 12 geological formations, ultimately reaching rock layers that date back over 500 million years.

Wen Liang, one of the lead technicians on the "Shenditake 1" project, described the immense challenges faced during drilling. "We overcame a series of technical difficulties, including extreme loads, wellbore instability, and formation leakage. Ultimately, we succeeded in reaching the target depth," he said.

An aerial drone photo taken on Feb. 20, 2025 shows a view of the "Shenditake 1," an ultra-deep borehole, in the hinterland of the Taklimakan Desert in the Tarim Basin, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. [Photo/Xinhua]

Overcoming world-class difficulties

If reaching space is a formidable challenge, penetrating the Earth's depths is no less daunting.

At 10,000 meters below the surface, temperatures exceed 210 degrees Celsius, which is hot enough to vaporize cooking oil. Pressure surpasses 145 MPa, greater than the crushing forces found at the deepest point of the Mariana Trench.

"At depths surpassing 10,000 meters, a series of extremes relentlessly tests the boundaries of China's ultra-deep drilling technologies and downhole tooling systems. Drilling was as difficult as the lunar exploration programs," said Sun Jinsheng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Facing a world-class challenge, the Tarim Oilfield established an interdisciplinary task force comprising nine technical support teams and equipped them with top-notch tools.

To support the project, CNPC developed the world's first 12,000-meter automated drilling rig and a suite of advanced ultra-deep well logging tools.

"With more than 90 percent of the drilling system components domestically developed, these self-developed technologies form the bedrock of China's capability to pioneer ultra-deep and geologically complex exploration frontiers," said Li Yahui, chief designer of the "Shenditake 1" drilling rig.

Staff members check the operation status of the drilling equipment via a remote platform in downtown Korla, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Feb. 18, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

Exploring the deep earth

While humanity has made strides in exploring deep space and ocean trenches, understanding the Earth's interior remains limited due to the impenetrable crustal rock barriers.

The Tarim Basin is China's largest deep-earth oil and gas reservoir, with 83.2 percent of its deep oil resources and 63.9 percent of its deep natural gas buried below 6,000 meters.

"This time, we have identified significant oil and gas indications at ultra-deep depths of 10,000 meters, achieving the world's first onshore oil and gas discovery below 10,000 meters and laying the foundation for the strategic discovery of deep oil and gas exploration," said Wang Qinghua, executive director of the Tarim Oilfield.

Beyond oil and gas exploration, "Shenditake 1" has provided Asia's first 10,000-meter-deep core samples, offering invaluable data for fundamental research in geology, geochemistry and geothermal studies.

Chinese scientists have also compiled the country's first comprehensive ultra-deep stratigraphic profile through systematic analysis of the 10,000-meter core samples and data, offering critical insights into the Earth's subsurface composition and tectonic history.  

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