China has made major strides in developing ultra-deep hydrocarbon resources beneath the Taklamakan Desert, tapping vast crude oil and natural gas reserves buried deep under the sands of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. Centered in the Tarim Basin, the sprawling Fuman Oilfield has emerged as a cornerstone of domestic energy supply amidst shifting dynamics in global commodity markets. Operated by the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), the remote desert facility has already yielded a cumulative total of 26.86 million tonnes of oil and gas as heavy extraction operations continue around the clock.
Estimates Point to Over One Billion Tonnes of Hydrocarbons
Geological evaluations classify the location as China's largest desert-based, ultra-deep petroleum repository, with productive reservoir zones positioned between 6,000 and 10,000 metres below the surface. Extracting crude from such depths presents formidable engineering obstacles involving extreme bottom-hole temperatures and crushing pressures. According to PetroChina, the entire deposit holds an estimated resource potential exceeding 1 billion tonnes of oil equivalent. Accelerating recovery efforts in the Tarim Basin forms a key part of long-term strategies to buffer domestic supplies against volatility across international crude markets.
Network of Hundreds of Deep Wells Delivers High Output
Drilling teams at the Fuman project have successfully completed 485 ultra-deep wells across the desert acreage. Within this development network, 464 individual wells currently produce more than 10,000 tonnes of output each. An additional 133 wells have crossed the operational milestone of delivering upwards of 100,000 tonnes of hydrocarbons apiece. The extensive concentration of specialized boreholes has established Fuman as the nation's premier operational hub for subterranean desert oil and gas production. Alongside its push into desert drilling, deep offshore blocks are also being aggressively tapped for crude supplies.
Ancient Rock Cores Extracted from 8,080 Metres Down
A notable technical milestone was recently recorded at the project's Zhentan-1 well, where drilling specialists retrieved rock core samples from an astonishing depth of 8,080 metres, equivalent to roughly 26,500 feet. Geologists indicate that the retrieved formations date back approximately 500 million years. This retrieval marks the first time that physical core samples have been extracted from beyond the 8,000-metre threshold in the northwestern Tarim Basin. Detailed laboratory examination of these ancient rock specimens will assist geoscientists in determining the maturity, structural evolution, and total thickness of reservoir layers situated at extreme depths.
Addressing Heavy Exposure to Global Crude Imports
The wider Taklamakan Desert holds confirmed reserves exceeding 500 million tonnes of oil and gas, with over half of that volume locked below 6,000 metres. Pushing drilling equipment past eight kilometres illustrates how structural hurdles in deep-layer exploration are being tackled to access resources once deemed unreachable. China remains the world's largest buyer of imported crude, depending on foreign shipments to cover more than 70 percent of its total fuel needs. In 2025, crude imports touched a historic volume of 557.73 million tonnes, representing a daily average of 11.55 million barrels. In contrast, domestic annual crude output stands at roughly 215 million metric tonnes, with daily production across land and offshore fields totaling approximately 11 million barrels.
