China's National Development and Reform Commission and National Energy Administration issued the petroleum and natural gas development 15th Five‑Year Plan. The plan targets breakthroughs in ultra‑deep hydrocarbon generation and accumulation mechanism

2026-08-17

China's National Development and Reform Commission and National Energy Administration issued the petroleum and natural gas development 15th Five‑Year Plan. The plan targets breakthroughs in ultra‑deep hydrocarbon generation and accumulation mechanisms and high‑precision geomechanical modeling, and core exploration and development technologies for ultra-deep carbonate and plastic reservoirs. It mandates development of major equipment including 15,000m‑class smart drilling rigs, intelligent managed‑pressure drilling systems and logging tools upgraded for ultra‑high‑temperature, ultra‑high‑pressure wells to enable onshore exploration and production at 10,000m depths. For deepwater fields the plan calls for breakthroughs in deepwater drilling, intelligent completions and testing and safe, efficient field development, and targets development of 3,000m‑class deepwater marine node acquisition systems, 3,000m deepwater blowout preventers with multi-variable composite control systems, and 1,500m full‑electric subsea control system equipment.