Sinopec drills deepest geothermal exploration well in China

China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (HKG:0386), or Sinopec, has completed drilling China's deepest geothermal exploration well, reaching a depth of 5,200 metres (17,060 ft).

The Fushen-1 Well is located in Hainan in South China. The exploration started in August 2023 and involved multiple innovative technologies, including the combination of dual-drive drilling and high-pressure injection, the company said on Wednesday.

The next step for Sinopec is to carry out extensive research and field tests at the well.

According to the company, the development and usage of deep geothermal has promising prospects. Citing geological surveys, it said that the hot dry rock geothermal resources between 3,000 and 10,000 metres below China's land area are equivalent to 856 trillion tonnes of standard coal. If just 2% of these resources were tapped, they could reach 2,993 times China’s annual energy consumption in 2023.

Sinopec expressed a commitment to becoming the country’s leading enterprise in geothermal energy.

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