Petroleum is a non-renewable traditional fossil energy, which plays an important role in the development of various industries and is one of the most important commodities in the international trade market.
Due to the scarcity of oil and its wide market application, countries around the world also attach great importance to the import of oil.
A major oil producer like Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the world because of its abundant oil reserves.
However, the situation may soon change, and China may become the next Saudi Arabia.
At present, the production of "heavy oil" in our country has exceeded 2,000 tons, so what is this "heavy oil" that worries all countries in the world?
1. What is the "heavy oil" that the world is worried about?
Petroleum is a viscous, dark brown liquid that is rich in a mixture of alkanes and aromatic hydrocarbons.
It can be used not only as fuel and gasoline, but also as a main raw material for the production of many chemical industry products.
In this regard, petroleum products are widely used, and it is for this reason that oil is called the "blood of industry".
Of course, there is still a corresponding controversy about the non-renewable nature of oil, and there are currently two different theories about the generation of oil.
On the one hand, it is believed that oil is formed by the long evolution of organisms in ancient oceans or lakes, and belongs to a kind of biological sedimentary oil, which cannot be regenerated.
On the other hand, oil is related to the carbon elements in the earth's crust and the movement of the earth's crust, and is a renewable resource.
However, regardless of whether oil is renewable or not, researchers can reach a consensus that oil needs to go through a long cycle before it can evolve.
The inability to transform or accelerate the cycle with existing technologies directly affirms the scarcity of oil.
The total amount of proven oil in the world is relatively abundant, but the distribution is extremely uneven.
A large amount of oil resources are concentrated in the two latitude zones of the Eastern Hemisphere, 20 to 40 degrees north latitude and 50 to 70 degrees north, that is, the two major oil regions of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Mexico.
In addition to the extremely uneven distribution, there is another problem that is a headache for all countries in the world, that is, the nature of some oil resources is relatively special, and it is extremely difficult to exploit.
According to the international classification and definition, petroleum resources can be divided into four types: super-heavy, heavy and medium-quality, and light.
If we want to compare the difficulty of extraction and the difficulty of refining, it is true that light oil resources are the best.
As for those petroleum resources that have high viscosity and high coagulation characteristics, which are difficult to exploit and refine, they are called heavy oil, which is commonly known as "black amber".
If this heavy oil with high coagulation and viscosity is to be successfully extracted, it is necessary to use more powerful pumping equipment.
In addition, it is necessary to implement more than three oil recovery methods to be successfully exploited.
In this regard, it is not only difficult but also extremely expensive to extract this kind of oil extraction.
The main problem lies in the level of refinement.
In terms of current industrial refining technology, a large amount of hydrogen must be added to convert this heavy oil into a related product that can be directly put into market applications.
Also considering the disposal of the residue, the conversion rate is actually not too high.
If we can make use of these resources that are difficult to exploit and refine, we can not only meet domestic demand, but also earn a lot of foreign trade income, which has two advantages.
However, the difficulty of mining and refining is extremely difficult, and the cost is relatively high, and seeing that such resources cannot be put into market application, this is the most headache for countries around the world.
Second, the output exceeds 20 million tons
Compared with those high-quality oil resources, the utilization of heavy oil resources is also very extensive.
However, the difficulty of mining and refining has become the only limitation, which has caused many countries to feel a headache.
Our country is no exception, in fact, the mainland's heavy oil reserves are very rich, and it also ranks fourth in the world.
Excluding Venezuela, Canada and the United States, our country has the largest heavy oil resources.
With such abundant heavy oil resources, our country naturally wants to make use of them, after all, the scale of our country's industrial market is very huge, and the demand for oil resources is almost the largest in the whole world.
If we can make full use of these heavy oil resources in China, we will certainly be able to promote the development of the mainland's economy and the rapid breakthrough of various industries to a certain extent.
To this end, our country has also invested a lot of manpower and material resources to constantly develop new refining processes and mining methods.
In the previous development, for the exploitation of heavy oil, a method that is commonly recognized at home and abroad is the thermal recovery method.
In this way, a cable is deployed in the hollow sucker rod to connect it with the bottom end of the sucker rod, and then through this cable and the hollow sucker rod are formed, and the current loop applies alternating current to reduce the condensation and viscosity of heavy oil with electric heating technology.
Although this method cannot greatly improve the conversion rate of heavy oil exploitation, it is better than lower cost and has superior economic practicability, so it has been widely used.
Of course, in order to better improve the conversion rate and solve the problem of mining difficulty, our country has established 14 pilot test areas in the Jungger Basin in the subsequent development.
After some efforts, our country has developed steam extraction technology in the form of self-research, which has made the practical application rate of heavy oil industrialization in mainland China reach 65 percentage points.
According to the current situation, the mainland has become the world's largest producer of heavy oil, and the cumulative heavy oil production has also exceeded the 20 million ton mark.
If in the follow-up development, our country can successively achieve technological breakthroughs and breakthroughs, then China may also be able to become the next Saudi Arabia.
Third, China may become the next Saudi Arabia
As we all know, Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the world, and the reason why Saudi Arabia is so rich is precisely because of its rich oil reserves.
According to relevant statistics, Saudi Arabia is one of the countries with the largest oil reserves, production and sales in the world.
As early as 1981, Saudi Arabia produced 490 million tons of oil.
With rising oil production, Saudi Arabia is able to generate almost hundreds of billions of dollars in foreign trade revenue every year.
It is precisely because of this that Saudi Arabia has established a relatively complete financial and industrial system, and in recent years, it has also focused on the development of the tertiary industry, adding new vitality to the domestic economic development.
Although in recent years, due to the continuous decline of oil reserves and the fluctuation of oil prices, Saudi Arabia's oil production and income have also been decreasing.
However, this has not diminished the many benefits that the oil economy has brought to Saudi Arabia's economic development.
Our country's various industries are relatively developed, the distribution of the three major industries is relatively balanced, and the vitality of economic development is also extremely strong, but our country is an oil-poor country.
After all, the mainland's oil consumption market is too large, and the degree of dependence on foreign oil products is also quite high, exceeding 70 percentage points.
In order to promote the resilience of the mainland's economic development and the rapid development of various industries, our country naturally must also strive to get rid of its dependence on foreign oil imports.
In order to achieve this, in addition to accelerating the conversion of traditional energy to the new energy industry, another focus is on the exploitation and refining of heavy oil resources.
At present, the mainland has made great progress in this industrial field and has become the world's largest producer of heavy oil.
In the follow-up development, I believe that our country will continue to develop new technologies and strive to improve the production and market conversion rate of heavy oil resources, so as to accelerate the transition from dependence on foreign oil imports.
If our country can really achieve this, then it is likely to become the next Saudi Arabia.
After all, the mainland's heavy oil reserves are extremely rich, and if they can be fully utilized, then the mainland can meet the relevant needs of the domestic market through these tidal resources on the one hand, and promote the rapid development of various industries.
On the other hand, it is also possible to form a corresponding export-oriented oil economy like Saudi Arabia.
In this way, we can obtain high foreign trade revenue through the export of petroleum products and increase the vitality of domestic economic development.
In April 2022, the mainland established the world's first large-scale development of offshore ultra-heavy oil reserves in the Bohai Sea region.
Now that two years have passed, it seems that the mainland's development and utilization of heavy oil resources have also entered a new level.
At the same time, from a technical point of view, the country has now broken the blockade of many western developed countries and mastered the refining technology for heavy oil and heavy oil resources.
Getting rid of foreign dependence also means that the mainland's oil reserves and development level will be further improved.
brief summary
Compared with those light oil resources, heavy oil resources are indeed difficult to exploit and utilize, but we cannot ignore the economic benefits and related value of this resource.
To this end, our country has also made many efforts and has now become one of the world's largest producers of heavy oil.
In the subsequent development, if our country can achieve another breakthrough at the technological level, it may be expected to become the next Saudi Arabia.
In this way, a unique oil economy can be formed, and the speed of economic development can be better increased through these domestic reserves.
With the continuous efforts of the mainland, it is believed that the corresponding problems will be solved, and the mainland will certainly be able to exploit the existing oil pumping resources to a higher level.