8,345m deep: China's homegrown 12,000m rig completes second ultra-deep well

A deep well has been completed at the northern edge of China's Taklimakan Desert, marking another breakthrough in the country's ultra-deep drilling capabilities.

At 6 pm on Friday, the Zhentan-1 well, located in Wensu County, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, reached a depth of 8,345 meters. It is the second ultra-deep well drilled using China's first domestically developed 12,000-meter drilling rig.

The well is designed to explore the oil and gas potential of large structural traps in the deep northwestern Tarim Basin, particularly those dating back to the Sinian Period, and to identify new areas for expanding oil and gas reserves.

The 12,000-meter rig features an 82-meter-high steel derrick capable of handling a maximum load of 665 tonnes and is designed to drill to depths of up to 12,000 meters. Its development means China no longer needs to rely on imported rigs for drilling wells deeper than 10,000 meters.

This marks the rig's second successful application. Equipped with a 6,000-horsepower drilling drawworks, the most powerful of its kind in China, and a 900-tonne lifting system, the rig can lift a load equivalent to two high-speed train sets. Its intelligent control system enables automated operations throughout the drilling process.

The Tarim Oilfield has so far drilled more than 270 wells deeper than 8,000 meters, accounting for more than half of China's total. In 2025, it completed China's first well deeper than 10,000 meters, Shenditake 1.