Revealing Earth's subsurface: China's technological advancements in oil, gas exploration

Approximately 70 percent of China's undiscovered oil and gas resources are located in ultra-deep formations, complex geological structures, and unconventional fields. Locating and accurately mapping these resources presents significant technical challenges.

Recently, People's Daily visited BGP Inc., a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), to explore how advanced geophysical technology is driving breakthroughs in exploration.

According to Wen Jiamin, chief engineer at BGP Inc.'s geophysical research center, more than 95 percent of the world's oil and gas reserves have been discovered through seismic exploration, akin to conducting a CT scan of the Earth. Artificial seismic waves are generated to collect raw data, and the resulting data is processed into 3D imagery for geological analysis and identification of potential drilling sites.

As exploration moves deeper underground, conventional seismic techniques face limitations in penetration and signal clarity. To overcome these challenges, BGP Inc. has developed wide-frequency, wide-azimuth, and high-density data acquisition technology and equipment. These innovations function much like advanced photography, capturing clearer, more comprehensive subsurface images through broader frequency ranges, multi-angle coverage, and high-resolution sampling.

This capability requires robust equipment. At BGP Inc.'s simulated acquisition site, 30-ton broadband seismic source vehicles, independently developed by the company, use five-ton vibrators to generate deep-penetrating low-frequency signals. These extend the effective detection depth from around 5,000 meters to over 10,000 meters.

Ma Lei, a senior expert at BGP Inc., highlighted the development of a new data acquisition system capable of recording up to 300,000 channels, up from 10,000, while increasing synchronization accuracy from milliseconds to microseconds.

Once seismic data is collected, it must undergo extensive processing and interpretation. Transforming increasingly massive datasets, often several times larger than before, into clear, actionable geological imagery requires advanced, large-scale seismic processing and interpretation software.

Historically, China relied on imported software for this critical task. In 2003, BGP Inc. Broke new ground by independently developing China's first large-scale integrated seismic data processing and interpretation software with proprietary intellectual property rights. In 2015, the company introduced an upgraded version, the world's first five-dimensional data processing and interpretation software, offering significantly enhanced functionality. Today, it stands among the world's three leading geophysical software systems.

In recent years, BGP Inc.'s research and development team has integrated AI into the software to enhance accuracy and efficiency. One notable advancement is in velocity spectrum picking, a crucial step in data interpretation. Previously requiring up to two months of manual work, the process can now be completed within days or weeks using AI-assisted automation, greatly accelerating turnaround while enhancing data quality, according to Geng Weifeng, head of the company's AI research unit.

Over the past five years, BGP Inc. has helped confirm domestic reserves of three trillion cubic meters of natural gas zones and 500 million tons of oil. The company has also supported the successful siting and drilling of China's two ultra-deep scientific exploration wells, each reaching depths of 10,000 meters. Internationally, BGP Inc. has delivered services to over 300 oil companies across more than 80 countries and has ranked first in annual operating revenue within the global geophysical services sector for several consecutive years.