Drilling on Asia's deepest oil and gas well starts in Xinjiang's Tarim Basin

(ECNS) -- China Petrochemical Corp, or Sinopec, the world's largest refiner by volume, has started drilling the 3-3XC well of the Shendi-1 project in the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, according to the company. 

The design depth of the well is 9,472 meters, 600 meters deeper than Mount Qomolangma if the mountain stood upside down underground, which will set a new record for the deepest oil and gas well in Asia.

The 3-3XC well is located in Shaya County of Aksu Prefecture, on the edge of the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang.

In general, a well between 4,500 to 6,000 meters deep is defined as a deep well, while those between 6,000 to 9,000 meters as super-deep wells, and those more than 9,000 meters as ultra-deep wells. 

So far, Sinopec has drilled 49 oil and gas wells with a vertical depth of more than 8,000 meters in "Shendi No.1 Shunbei Oil and Gas Field Base."