On June 11, Yun Lu, Party secretary and deputy president of Sinopec Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute, led a delegation to PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development for a special research visit.

The two sides held in-depth discussions on optimizing management models, full-chain management of scientific research, improving assessment and incentive mechanisms, and restructuring research organization models. They also reached a consensus on cooperation in joint research on “two deeps and one unconventional,” new energy, CCUS, and oilfield digitalization and intelligence. This high-level strategic alignment between the core research institutions of China’s two oil majors marks an important step forward in collaborative innovation in China’s oil and gas exploration and development sector.

Before the meeting, Yun Lu and his delegation visited the history exhibition hall of PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development. At the meeting, Hu Zongquan, deputy president and chief geologist of Sinopec Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute; Sun Jianfang, deputy president and chief engineer; Li Jianzhong, Party committee member of PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development and director of the PetroChina Reserves Evaluation Center; and Lü Weifeng, Party committee member and deputy president, attended the discussions. More than 20 representatives from relevant departments of both sides participated in the exchange.

Yun Lu said that PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development is a benchmark institution in China’s oil and gas exploration research sector, and its experience in technological innovation, management, and operations provides important reference for Sinopec Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute. At present, Sinopec is comprehensively advancing its “second undertaking,” while the institute is implementing the concept of proactive support and fully serving the main battlefield of exploration and development.

Yun said the two institutes share common missions and expressed hope that this visit would serve as an opportunity to deepen cooperation in three areas. First, the two sides should focus on national strategies and jointly tackle key core technologies. They should jointly apply for national-level major projects in fields such as “two deeps and one unconventional” — deep reservoirs, deepwater, and unconventional resources — new energy, CCUS, and oilfield digitalization and intelligence, and build a high ground for original technologies in the industry. Second, they should integrate innovation resources, jointly build and share research platforms, promote the interconnection and shared use of large-scale instruments, data resources, and computing capabilities, and unlock the value of national-level platform clusters. Third, they should deepen talent exchanges, establish a regular liaison mechanism, promote mutual visits by management and technical professionals, and jointly cultivate interdisciplinary scientific and technological talent.

Shen Hua welcomed Yun Lu and his delegation. He noted that, as core research institutions in the energy industry, the two institutes work on similar objects and share aligned missions. The distinctive technical strengths accumulated by Sinopec Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute in deep and ultra-deep oil and gas exploration and marine oil and gas geology are worthy of study and reference.

Shen said he hoped the two sides would integrate resources such as national key laboratories and large-scale instruments, establish a cross-institute reservation and sharing mechanism, strengthen mutual recognition and joint development of self-developed industrial software, promote standardized interconnection of experimental data and exploration and development data, and concentrate efforts on solving common industry challenges. At the same time, he called for joint research on exploration and development difficulties in key basins such as Tarim, Sichuan, and Ordos, so as to form complementary strengths and development synergy.

Both sides agreed that they would take this exchange as a new starting point to further refine cooperation measures, expand the scope of cooperation, and effectively transform the outcomes of the visit into practical results, jointly making new and greater contributions to the high-quality development of the energy industry.

Sinopec Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute and PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development are respectively the leading upstream research institutions of the two major groups. The Sinopec institute has accumulated deep expertise in deep and ultra-deep reservoirs and marine carbonate oil and gas reservoirs, while the PetroChina institute has outstanding advantages in refined exploration of continental basins, unconventional oil and gas, and digital oilfields. The focus of this alignment — “two deeps and one unconventional,” CCUS, and digital-intelligent technologies — directly addresses common technical challenges currently facing China’s oil and gas industry.

For a long time, the two major groups have had their own focuses in exploration and development. However, when facing complex oil and gas reservoirs across basins and regions, such as those in Tarim, Sichuan, and Ordos, it is difficult for the technical strength of a single enterprise to achieve rapid breakthroughs. The two sides’ proposal to jointly apply for national-level major projects, share large-scale instruments and data resources, and mutually recognize self-developed software means a shift from working separately to collaborative problem-solving.

This is particularly important for deep oil and gas exploration. As discoveries in shallow and medium-depth formations become increasingly difficult, deep reservoirs, with burial depths exceeding 4,500 meters, have become the main battlefield for increasing China’s oil and gas reserves and production. However, geological conditions such as high temperature, high pressure, low porosity, and low permeability place extremely high demands on seismic data processing, drilling engineering, and reservoir stimulation technologies. By integrating national key laboratories and computing resources, the two institutes are expected to accelerate domestic breakthroughs in key deep oil and gas exploration technologies and provide stronger technical support for national energy security.