Huaba Well

Huaba Well

Huaba Well is the first discovery well of the Shengli Oilfield and even the entire North China oil region. The successful drilling and testing of this well achieved a new breakthrough in early oil exploration in the North China Basin, which led to the North China Oil Campaign and thus marked the beginning of large-scale oil exploration and development in the North China oil region. It was a milestone event of great significance for the national oil exploration industry. It laid the foundation for the subsequent discoveries of major oilfields such as Shengli, Dagang, Huabei, Jidong, and Zhongyuan, marking an important milestone in the development of China’s petroleum industry.

Since then, the Shengli Oilfield officially entered the exploration and development phase. The development of the Shengli Oilfield signified that China’s crude oil production had entered a brand-new era. At that time, China’s crude oil production met domestic demand, eliminating the need to import crude oil from abroad and freeing the country from the economic constraints imposed by the United States and other Western powers. Its significance was immense.

This well was designed based on data from the first seven wells, combined with the gravity-magnetic survey map and structural map of the Dongying area provided by the then Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources' Aerial Survey Brigade. Drilling commenced on February 26, 1961, and the well was successfully completed in just 35 days. The total depth of the well was 1,755.88 meters, with a total of 50.2 meters of core extracted at an average recovery rate of 31.1%. There were 25 sidewall cores taken, with a success rate of 68%. Both the cementing quality and well depth quality passed inspection on the first attempt. Comrade [Name Redacted], then Minister of the Petroleum Industry, placed great emphasis on the drilling of this well and issued important instructions when the focus shifted to well testing. Coupled with the meticulous planning and execution by technical personnel, the well achieved outstanding success.

In early March 1961, while drilling was underway, the drill bit brought up a piece of brownish-black sandy material about the size of a chicken egg. At that moment, the geologist on the drilling team reacted as if they had discovered a treasure

Attraction Location

West Second Road, Dongying District, Dongying City, Shandong Province