NEWS
Global Drilling Teams Push Limits, Writing a New Chapter in Energy from Kuwait’s Deep Wells to African Deserts
Under the stars at an oil field in northern Kuwait, a Chinese drilling team completed a complex five-level horizontal well in just 21.06 days, increasing drilling speed by 13%. A supervisor from Kuwait National Petroleum Company remarked in amazement, “You’ve turned ‘impossible’ into ‘standard procedure’!”
On August 16, 2025, a Chinese drilling team commenced operations amidst 50°C heat and swirling sandstorms in Algeria, marking the company’s breakthrough from zero to one in the African market. Meanwhile, in the deep desert of Egypt’s New Valley Governorate, another Chinese team drilled 63 deep-water wells in less than a year, transforming barren desert into fertile land.
Drilling teams worldwide are pushing geographical limits and technological boundaries, injecting new vitality into global energy security and sustainable development.
01 Exceptional Performance: Teams Set New Industry Benchmarks
In Kuwait’s challenging northern oil fields, the SP282 drilling team has consistently set remarkable records. On July 29, 2025, the team completed drilling operations for well RA-1149 in the Raudhatain block in a cycle time of just 21.06 days.
This achievement surpassed the previous best record for the block by 13%, making the SP282 team the first in Kuwait National Petroleum Company’s history to simultaneously hold the “dual crown” for the shortest drilling cycles of five-level horizontal wells in both the major Sabriya and Raudhatain oil fields.
Just two months prior, this same team had broken the drilling efficiency record for well SA-1184 in the Sabriya block. They developed detailed improvement plans targeting four major time-loss areas: equipment maintenance, directional correction, and process. By performing critical equipment maintenance during the completion window, they ensured the new well started drilling at full capacity.
02 Technological Innovation: Breaking Through Geological Limits
Facing world-class challenges such as dense lost-circulation zones in the Damman, Tayarat, and Sadi formations and a 3,396-foot open-hole horizontal section, the SP282 team demonstrated the technical prowess of Chinese drilling crews.
During the 16-inch hole section, they innovatively used a composite bit combination to address severe circulation losses. Without using rotary steerable systems, they increased the screw speed by 40% and combined it with lost circulation material injection, boosting the rate of penetration by 25% compared to offset wells.
In the horizontal section, the application of non-rotating protector sleeve technology reduced the contact area between the drill pipe and casing by 60% and improved torque transmission efficiency by 30%, effectively solving the high friction problem in long horizontal section drilling.
03 Safety and Efficiency: Parallel Operations Create Miracles
“Safety is not a speed bump; it’s a guardrail on the track.” This motto is deeply ingrained in the SP282 team’s work philosophy. While pursuing high efficiency, they employ a dual-track model of “parallel operations + maintenance during windows,” compressing the traditional sequential process’s “downtime” to almost zero.
They weld the casing head while simultaneously installing the choke and kill lines, test the casing float shoe and collar while tripping out, and prepare cementing materials while running casing. This refined process management has significantlyed production efficiency.
In the 96 wells completed by the team, totaling 160,000 meters drilled, their daily operating rate reached 99.49%, with multiple wells rated as benchmark projects.
04 Expanding Frontiers: New Journeys from Desert to Grassland
In 2025, the footprints of Chinese drilling teams are extending to broader horizons.
In Algeria, facing a rig that had been stacked for over a year, the SINOPEC-234 team conducted thorough equipment inspection and rectification piece by piece under extreme climatic conditions. They ultimately commenced drilling 22 days ahead of the contracted schedule, winning high praise from the client.
In Uganda, the SP-1503 team, using an intelligent rig, enclosed diesel generators in noise-reducing enclosures and laid rubber damping plates on hydraulic catwalks, reducing noise at the site boundary to just 50 decibels.
Recognized for its outstanding construction performance and environmental capability, this team was awarded the “TotalEnergies 2024 Best Global Onshore Drilling Team.” Their worksite coexists harmoniously with the antelopes and giraffes of the East African grasslands.
05 Green Transition: Water Well Projects Bring Life-Giving Springs
The contributions of drilling teams extend beyond the energy sector. In Egypt, approximately 96% of the land is desert, yet it supports a population of over 100 million.
To alleviate pressure on food imports, the Egyptian government has continuously increased efforts to reclaim desert and add arable land since 2015. Zhongman Petroleum Group established Zhongman Egypt Company in October 2016, deepening its involvement in the local water well market.
Over eight years, water well construction teams composed of Chinese and Egyptian staff have overcome various difficulties, helping Egypt drill more than 680 desert water wells in total.
Since October 2024, during the Owainat Water Well Project in Egypt’s New Valley Governorate, they have completed 63 deep wells, each about 450 meters deep, in less than a year. Nourished by well water, the former desert is gradually transforming into farmland capable of growing wheat.
06 Market Landscape: A Mixed Global Drilling Outlook
According to statistics and forecasts from World Oil magazine, the global drilling market in 2025 shows a “mixed and uneven” pattern.
Global drilling activity is projected to see a slight contraction, with only some countries in Western Europe, Asia, and the Middle East showing modest growth. Drilling numbers in North America, South America, and Africa are expected to decline noticeably.
Norway stands out in Western Europe, with its drilling count projected to grow by 15.3% in 2025. This is primarily due to fruitful oil and gas exploration results and investments in several major projects in recent years.
Mexico, leveraging new discoveries in the Zama field, is expected to see a 10.3% increase in drilling activity in 2025, becoming a “dark horse” in North America. Asia, with China at its core, is projected to see a 1.2% growth in drilling activity.
07 Exploring the Deep Earth: Breaking the 10,000-Meter Depth Barrier
On February 20, 2025, China National Petroleum Corporation’s (CNPC) Deep Earth Tako 1 well was successfully completed, reaching a depth of 10,910 meters, making it Asia’s first and the world’s second-deepest vertical well.
This scientific exploration well, located in the heart of the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang, set five drilling records, including the fastest global land drilling to break 10,000 meters, the world’s deepest liner cementing, and the world’s deepest wireline imaging logging.
Drilling to 10,000 meters faced extreme challenges like ultra-high temperature and pressure, with downhole temperatures reaching approximately 220°C and pressures up to 145 MPa. To tackle these, CNPC independently developed ten key technological tools, including the world’s first land-based 12,000-meter automated drilling rig.
Following the Deep Earth Tako 1 well, China’s second 10,000-meter scientific exploration well—Deep Earth Chuanke 1—has also broken the 10,000-meter depth mark and is advancing towards its design depth of 10,520 meters.
When the drill bit of the SINOPEC-234 team started turning in the Algerian desert, the project manager watched the numbers flickering on the dashboard—a breakthrough from zero to one.
Ten thousand kilometers away in a Kuwaiti oil field, technicians from the SP282 team gathered around a screen, monitoring real-time downhole data transmission, knowing another record was within reach.
From North American shale fields to African grasslands, from desert water wells to 10,000-meter deep earth exploration, global drilling teams are turning一个个 “impossibilities” into “standard procedures” with astounding perseverance and ingenuity.
