Youth Pioneer Team of CNOOC (China) Limited Shanghai Branch.

Energy is the food of industry and the lifeblood of the national economy. The exploration and development of oil and natural gas is related to national energy security.

Adhering closely to the overall situation of serving the country with energy, the Youth League Committee of CNOOC (China) Limited Shanghai Branch has focused on key tasks, identified the points of connection and focus between the work of the Communist Youth League and the overall situation of production and operation, and mobilized young people to make contributions to the new era based on their posts, work hard, strive to be benchmarks, set examples, and write a regretless youth with practical actions.

In 2023, young people from CNOOC (China) Limited Shanghai Branch won the Shanghai Youth May Fourth Medal (collective), Outstanding Communist Youth League Member of the Youth League Committee of Central Enterprises, the Fifth China National Offshore Oil Corporation Youth Pioneer, and the 2023 Shanghai Youth May Fourth Medal Model.

Wang Dongjin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, Chairman and Secretary of the Party Committee of China National Offshore Oil Corporation, once wrote that as a backbone state-owned energy enterprise, China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) shoulders the important mission of ensuring national energy security.

China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is a large-scale state-owned enterprise established on February 15, 1982 with the approval of the State Council. It is China's largest offshore oil and gas production and operation operator, with a total of 5 holdings in domestic and overseas listed companies. Its main business segments include oil and gas exploration and development, professional technical services, refining and sales, natural gas and power generation, financial services, etc., and it actively develops new energy businesses such as offshore wind power. CNOOC has been rated A for the 19th consecutive time in the annual assessment of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council; it ranks 42nd in the 2023 Fortune Global 500, and has been ranked in the top ten in the "Global Energy Top 250" ranking announced by Platts Energy for two consecutive years since 2020.

Youth commando team for efficient development of low permeability gas reservoirs of Shanghai Branch of CNOOC Limited.

Exploration: Breaking through technical bottlenecks and carefully depicting ancient river channels

The "Blue Book of China's Oil and Gas Industry Development Analysis and Outlook Report (2022-2023)" released in April 2023 shows that my country imported 508.28 million tons of crude oil in 2022, a year-on-year decrease of 0.9%, and the foreign dependence on crude oil dropped to 71.2%; imported 109.25 million tons of natural gas, a year-on-year decrease of 9.9%, and the foreign dependence on natural gas dropped to 40.2%.

"Basically, all the easily-extracted oil and natural gas have been extracted!" said Li Wenjun, chief engineer of development geology at the Research Institute of Shanghai Branch of CNOOC Limited (CNOOC).

Low-permeability oil and gas fields are like a dense and hard grindstone, and conventional mining methods are difficult to effectively develop on a large scale. How to "squeeze" the oil and gas in the grindstone? This is a major engineering and technical problem of the world class. Chewing such a "hard bone" requires hard work and even more high technology.

"The Jingfeng Action has given us encouragement, motivation and cohesion," said Li Wenjun. The youth commando team, which is composed of a scientific research and innovation team with young job experts and young scientific and technological talents from CNOOC as the core, currently has 28 scientific researchers, of which 71% are young people under the age of 35.

They worked overtime and used innovative methods to draw an oil and gas "map" in the region.

The full name of "Jingfeng Action" is "Jingfeng Contribution Action". It is an action of Shanghai Economic and Information System focusing on "the major issues of the country" and "the key issues of the city", focusing on major national strategic tasks and the key points of Shanghai's high-quality industrial development. Starting from 2023, it will guide and support young people in the industry to serve the overall situation and lead young people in the system to carry out youth job contribution actions around the central work.

Oil and gas exploration and program design are to "guide" the drilling team. However, the underwater and underground conditions are complicated.

With the joint efforts of the youth commandos, by learning from and referring to domestic and foreign oil and gas field exploration and development technologies, combined with the unique offshore construction conditions, they constantly honed their skills, broke through technical bottlenecks, and finely portrayed the "sweet spots" inside the ancient river channel. They creatively realized the release of gas well production capacity in a low-permeability offshore oil and gas field without fracturing by combining efficient development well types with reservoir protection, changing the traditional inherent understanding that ultra-low permeability oil and gas fields must be "fractured". For the first time, they realized the high-yield and efficient development of a small number of wells in large-scale low-permeability and ultra-low permeability offshore gas fields at home and abroad, and their technical achievements reached the leading level. Recently, they were commended by the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Communist Youth League.

Young commandos are carefully checking the drilling and completion equipment.

An "Iron Army": When there are difficulties, I will go first

"It's like standing on Mount Everest and looking at the ships on the Yarlung Zangbo River." Lei Lei, a person in charge of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation's deep exploration iron army team, described offshore oil drilling in this way.

How to bring out the oil and natural gas hidden deep under the sea and in the strata? The team members need to drill wells at designated locations and complete the wells according to the construction plan.

Well completion refers to the engineering process of lowering casing, cementing, perforating, and lowering production tubing after the oil layer is drilled.

However, due to the extremely long distances and enormous pressures, both directional drilling and well completion are extremely challenging and even dangerous.

"Fortunately, we have the heritage of the 'army'. One person is a team, an 'iron army'," Lei Lei said. They often have to leave land and work at sea, often facing various difficulties and dangers. "'If there are difficulties, I will go first.' Only with this spirit, everyone will rush with you."

Ge Junrui, 2023 Shanghai Youth May Fourth Medal Model and Completion Technology Manager of the Engineering and Technology Operations Center of CNOOC (China) Limited Shanghai Branch.

What we are repairing is not a lamp, but letting youth shine

"Only passion can carry us through the long years."

There is a group of people who are responsible for the production, operation and maintenance of offshore platforms. Some people miss important moments in their lives in order to stick to their jobs.

Affected by weather conditions, there is not much time window for offshore construction, maintenance and other operations. "(So) it's very busy on the drilling platform, and we have to race against time." Zhao Yang is responsible for production safety. He said he is a "nagging old woman".

After staying at sea for many days, especially when looking at the vast sea, I have a deep sense of insignificance and feel particularly insignificant. The drilling platform is very high and far from the sea surface. If someone falls off, he may be gone. On the platform, they usually wear earplugs because the equipment is very noisy.

Chongqing young man Li Youkang came to work on the drilling platform right after graduating from university. He studied electrical engineering and worked as an electrician. His job was to repair lights. If a light didn't work, he would check the circuit and replace the parts.

It was not until he experienced an emergency repair that he realized that electrical engineering played an indispensable role in the operation of the entire platform. He understood that electrical appliances, instruments, machinery, production processes, etc., each of these equipment or links and processes, are like building blocks, combined together and indispensable. If any piece is missing, the entire platform may stop operating or even fall apart.

He said that at that moment, he suddenly realized that what he was repairing was not a lamp, but to keep the lamp lit, to keep the platform running, and to let his youth shine.

Zhao Yang said that they have also formed a group of young pioneers on the platform. The team members took the crane to the platform, memorized the equipment, understood the equipment, and even "competed" with them. At night, they stood in the cold wind for a long time to adjust the equipment to the best condition. They have long regarded the platform as their home. It is this kind of enthusiasm that has led to the frequent "good news" of high and stable production.

In addition, the Youth League Committee of CNOOC (China) Co., Ltd. Shanghai Branch has also built a platform to serve the growth and development of young people. With "improving the spiritual quality of young employees" as the main line of work, it continues to deepen the "theme education of league members and youth", and continues to strengthen the care and concern for young people; carries out the "Blue Power into Campus-Petroleum and Marine Animal Science Popularization Activities"; visits the dormitories of young employees, fully listens to their opinions and suggestions on the dormitories, improves the environment of employee apartments, and continuously enhances the sense of belonging of young employees to the company.