In a scene from Deepwater Horizon — a film based on the 2010 offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico — the daughter of a technician demonstrates the workings of deepwater oil rigs by jamming a metal straw into a shaken-up can of soda and sealing it with honey to block the fizzing liquid.
The young girl describes oil from reservoirs beneath the seafloor as "mean, old dinosaurs", and proudly says that "it was my daddy who tamed the dinosaurs". The scene ends with the can exploding ominously, spewing soda all over the kitchen table.
Although the show-and-tell presented by the girl is an oversimplified portrayal of offshore drilling, it conveys a crucial message: navigating the operation demands a blend of courage and intelligence in risky environments, requiring the taming of nature.
▲ China National Offshore Oil Corporation operates an offshore drilling rig in an oil field in the Bohai Sea. China Daily
China is making rapid strides in catching up with developed nations in offshore drilling, driven by a push toward scientific self-reliance and innovation.
One prominent researcher who has witnessed and propelled the development is Li Zhong, deputy general manager and chief engineer in drilling and well completion at the China National Offshore Oil Corporation Research Institute based in Beijing.
"We used to rely on foreign exports and imported equipment, but over the years, we have achieved significant improvements and innovations in domestic know-how and equipment," he said.
Born in a rural area in Henan province in 1972, Li said that the sight of tall drilling rigs towering over sprawling fields and busy workers dressed in overalls left a mark on his young mind. "Out of curiosity, I used to sneak into their laboratories and warehouses, observing how they fiddled with bottles and jars, and asking them all sorts of questions," he said.
"For a kid living in the countryside, their work was shrouded in an intriguing mist of mystery," he added. "At that time, I made up my mind to apply for a petroleum-related program for college."
In 1994, Li graduated from the Jianghan Petroleum Institute, now part of the Yangtze University in Hubei province, and was recruited into a subsidiary of CNOOC in Guangdong province, with a focus on tapping into crude oil in the South China Sea.
His maiden trip to an offshore platform was marked by a sobering experience. "I got off the helicopter and was expecting to hear the roaring of massive machines, but there was only an eerie silence and the deck was in disarray," he recalled.
Li later learned that a serious blowout had occurred shortly before his arrival, leading to the emergency shutdown of the blowout preventer and the shearing of drilling tools.
For him, the incident offered a valuable lesson on production safety. "I have internalized a meticulous and rigorous principle at work at all times," he said.
Vast swathes of the western South China Sea have abundant oil and gas resources, but the complicated seabed conditions have posed numerous challenges and thwarted repeated efforts to explore the treasure trove.
Drilling equipment must endure temperatures surging to about 240 C and pressure roughly equivalent to the weight of a heavy truck bearing down on a surface area the size of a fingernail. "A number of foreign drilling companies had made attempts, but ultimately failed and gave up," Li said.
