Recently, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) project titled “Fundamental Research on Significantly Enhancing Recovery of Difficult Heavy Oil through Multi-Element Thermal Composite Development”, undertaken by Sinopec Shengli Oilfield, passed the implementation plan review. This marks the first NSFC project led by Shengli Oilfield.

The project is jointly carried out by Shengli Oilfield, Sinopec Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute, China University of Petroleum (East China), and China University of Petroleum (Beijing), bringing together three leading research institutes and universities in China.

Focusing on five key research directions—including efficient flow mechanisms of heavy oil in porous media, multi-scale displacement laws of multi-element thermal composite systems, and coordination mechanisms of complex well types and well patterns—the project will adopt an integrated “industry–academia–research–application” innovation model to promote deep integration of fundamental theory, key technologies, and field application.

Heavy oil, rich in naphthenic components, is an important raw material for producing high-grade asphalt, refrigeration oils, and aerospace lubricants, and plays an irreplaceable role in national strategic projects such as defense and aerospace engineering.

As one of China’s three major heavy oil production bases, Shengli Oilfield holds abundant heavy oil reserves. However, these resources are typically characterized by great burial depth, high viscosity, thin reservoirs, strong sensitivity, and low permeability, making them difficult to develop. At present, steam huff-and-puff remains the dominant development method, with recovery factors below 25 percent. Further enhancing recovery faces technical challenges such as high heat loss, difficulty in steam chamber expansion, and low displacement efficiency.

The NSFC is China’s primary funding channel for basic research, and securing such a project signifies entry into the country’s “national team” of fundamental research. For Shengli Oilfield, leading an NSFC project indicates a shift from application-oriented technological improvement toward high-level exploration of fundamental scientific principles in the oil and gas industry.

The project received official approval from the NSFC in November 2025 and will run from January 2026 to December 2029. As a new-generation enhanced oil recovery technology, multi-element thermal composite flooding has demonstrated strong potential in laboratory experiments, but its theoretical foundations and key technologies still require systematic breakthroughs.

Over four years, the project will carry out full-chain research from basic experiments and mathematical modeling to field demonstration. Early-stage work will focus on fundamental scientific issues such as residual oil occurrence mechanisms and non-equilibrium flow formation, while later stages will develop numerical simulation software, optimize processes, and conduct field tests, ultimately forming replicable and scalable development models and technical standards for multi-element thermal composite flooding.