The Oil Glowing Golden Light
5 min read“Look! The kowtow machines!”
Everyone who goes by 217 State Road would issue such a marvel when seeing the oil region of 100 kilometers. That is a kind of oil extraction machine, with the color of orange-yellow, and the tall and straight body is very eye-catching. Local people have made it a lively and popular name”kowtow machine”.
The vast Gobi Desert is boundless, and there are countless “kowtow machines”working and devoting silently in the oil region. These “kowtow machines” broke the loneliness here, forming the unique and spectacular scenery, and much people have got excited and shocked at seeing the scenery. They keep repeating the same mechanical action regardless of the seasons, the weather or the day and night-down and up, never stop, and inexhaustible. Each action means the extraction of valuable oil from the magical land, and the bounty to the people. In this case, “kowtow machines” are devout showing thanks to the nature.
Oil extraction machine-“Kowtow machine” in Baijiantan District Before the appearance of the word “petroleum”, it is called “black gold”, and “devil’s sweat”, etc. abroad, and “mineral varnish”, “gedanite water”, and “fierce fire oil” in China. No matter how much names it has, it means billowing wealth in modern society The economy at places of petroleum resources is relatively developed, and the people’s livelihood is relatively well-off.
It was Chinese who first drilled petroleum in the world. In Xinjiang, the first place that discovered petroleum is Karamay.
There is an “asphalt mound” at about 130 kilometers north of Dushanzi oil field.The spring here outflows black oil other than water. Local people call it the “black oil mountain”, which is “Karamay” in Uighur.
Karamay is the only city named after the petroleum. On October 29, 1955, the Karamay 1# well squirted the oil and gas flow, which meant the birth of the Karamay Oil Field and at the same time, opened a prelude of the development of petroleum industry in Xinjiang.
In 1960, the crude output of Karamay Oil Field reached 1.66 million tons, accounting for 40% of crude oil production in the country then, and making it the first large oil field discovered after the founding of New China, so Karamay has a title of “the petroleum eldest son of new China”. In 2002, the annual output of crude oil exceeded 10 million tons becoming the first ten-million-ton level large oil field in western China. Since then, the crude oil production of Karamay oil field has been over ten million tons for 10 consecutive years, next only to Daqing, Shengli and Liaohe oil field, ranking the fourth of the onshore oil and gas fields (Karamay Oil Field, which is also named Xinjiang Oil Field, is the largest oil production enterprise in western China, and it is a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation).
Black oil mountain in Karamay (now it is memorial site and tourist attraction for revolutionary tradition education for all nationalities) Karamay was born and flourishing because of the petroleum, which has completely changed Karamay. In the past, there was no water, no grass, even no birds flying in the sky, but now it becomes an attracting paradise with broad streets shaded by trees, gurgling water, and rows of buildings.
The word “Karamay”is a symbol of lucky and fertile, and famous in the world. On the 2012 ranking list of China’s urban per capita GDP, Karamay ranked the third only second to Macau and Hong Kong with the per capita GDP of 214,172.4 Yuan (equivalent to 34,074.04 USD).
The petroleum development of Karamay is not simply grab, but the meticulous care of the health and beauty of the oil field. The whole oil field is loaded into the computer with the information construction.
The Fengcheng operating region of Karamay Oilfield Company has the unique and beautiful scenery of farmlands, pastures, rivers, lakes, and Yardang landform, so it is also endowed with the mission of”green-protect-“. The field staff would clean up the around area, therefore, it is difficult to see any production waste now, what you can see are clean well area and the station houses. Sheep graze happily next to the pumping unit under the blue sky and white cloud; the well repair work will left no oil on the cotton fields.
In 2008, Karamay built the first “digital oilfield” in the country. In 2010, Karamay first put forward the concept of “Smart Field” in the world. Each field, each well area, each well, each wellhead, and each pipeline… The entire oilfield ground facilities, whether the physical graphic, specific parameters, or historical data, can be presented distinctly and completely by the application system in the computer. All of the engineering parameters can be passed to the headquarters of the company hundreds of kilometers away in a few seconds through the satellite transmission system.
The No. high-yield oil well-193 in Baijiantan District, Karamay, it began to produce oil in 1953, flowing 80,000 tons of oil and gas everyday Just like the Karamay Oilfield, Tarim Oilfield records the legend of Xinjiang Petroleum with lots of “-est”.
The largest desert oilfield in China-Tazhong Oilfield, the first hundred-million-ton level marine sandstone oilfield in China-Hade Oilfield, the largest high quality gas field of extreme high pressure, high-yield, and high abundance in China-Kela-I gas field, the largest oil and gas condensate accumulation zone in China–Yaha-Yingmaili oil and gas fields group, and the first hundred-million-ton level reef beach facies oil-gas field-Tazhong I gas field.
They witnessed the great-leap-forward development of the oil industry in Xinjiang.
In 1990, Xinjiang oil industry ushered in a rare historical opportunity-the central government put forward clearly the strategic guideline of “stabilize the east, and develop the west” for oil industry. Since then, the exploration and development in Tarim, Turpan-Hami, and Junggar Basin has been accelerated, and has achieved many remarkable results.
A number of oil industrial cities such as Korla, Lunnan, Zepu, Hami, and Shanshan have been built. In 1993, Xinjiang crude oil production first exceeded 10 million tons, becoming the fourth largest oil-producing province in China, and in 2002, it exceeded 20 million tons for the first time. Oil exploration in Luntai County, Tarim At present, three major oil and gas production bases of Junggar Basin, Tarim and Turpan-Hami Basin have been set up for Xinjiang petrochemical industry, as well as four petroleum refining and processing bases of Urumqi, Dushanzi-Karamay, Turpan-Hami, and southern Xinjiang. In addition, the pipelines of “West-East natural gas transmission”, China-Kazakhstan crude oil, Ukraine refined oil product, and western crude oil have been constructed and put into operation in succession. Xinjiang has become China’s main oil and gas producing area and an important strategic oil base.
