What we do
Twelve service lines, one well
In Bangladesh CCDC delivers turnkey drilling with slick line and drill stem testing running alongside it. Behind those scopes stands the full service line of CNPC Chuanqing Drilling Engineering, built over sixty years and more than forty-eight thousand wells.
A CCDC rig on a BGFCL field, Bangladesh
01 In Bangladesh
Turnkey drilling
In Bangladesh CCDC works almost entirely turnkey. One contract covers the rig, the crew, the materials and the engineering, so the operator carries a fixed cost and a fixed date rather than day-rate exposure. Five turnkey contracts since 2024 have made CCDC the largest turnkey drilling contractor in the country.
- Rig, crew, consumables and engineering under a single fixed-price contract
- Well programme design, drilling, casing, cementing and handover at completion
- Civil works, camp, logistics and chemical receiving at the wellsite
- HSE management and well control cover for the full contract period
Integrated well construction, delivered by the group
| Client / region | Period | Wells delivered | Footage completed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkmenistan | Since 2008 | 178 | 675,300 m |
| Ecuador | Since 2001 | 114 | 263,417 m |
| Shell (in China) | Since 1999 | 71 | 285,300 m |
| TOTAL (in China) | Since 2011 | 196 | 705,600 m |
| Chevron | 2022 | 4 | — |
| PetroChina | 124 blocks | 48,500+ | — |
Records held
- 1965 — the first horizontal well drilled in the Sichuan Basin, China
- 2010 — the first shale gas well in China
- PS-6, 9,026 m — the deepest onshore vertical well in Asia, 2023
- 5,256 m — the longest horizontal section, in a well 8,528 m deep
- SY001-X1, 8,600 m — the deepest onshore horizontal well in China
- H100, 31 wells — the largest onshore cluster platform in Asia
- ChuanKe-1, designed to 10,520 m — being drilled by CCDC now
CCDC-71, working through the night
02 In Bangladesh
Drill stem testing
Drill stem testing is one of two specialist scopes CCDC runs in Bangladesh alongside turnkey drilling. A DST puts the formation on production for a controlled period before the well is completed, so the operator commits to a completion design against measured reservoir behaviour rather than an estimate.
- Open-hole and cased-hole drill stem testing
- Downhole pressure and temperature recording, with build-up and draw-down analysis
- Surface well testing, separation and controlled flaring
- Deliverability, permeability and skin reported back to the operator
- Fluid sampling for laboratory analysis
The specialist crew on the rig floor
03 In Bangladesh
Slick line operations
The second specialist scope. A dedicated slick line crew moves between the active well sites, running mechanical intervention on wireline without a rig having to be sitting over the well.
- Gauge and drift runs, and depth correlation
- Setting and pulling plugs, standing valves and gas lift valves
- Fishing and mechanical jarring
- Running downhole gauges for pressure surveys
- Paraffin and scale cutting to restore flow
Logging units alongside the substructure
04 In Bangladesh
Mud logging
Mud logging reads the well while it is being drilled: the cuttings coming over the shakers, the gas in the returns, the parameters at the drill floor. On the Titas-31 turnkey contract mud logging runs inside CCDC's own scope.
- Cuttings description and lithology logs
- Total gas and chromatographic gas analysis
- Real-time drilling parameter monitoring and early kick detection
- Pore pressure interpretation and formation evaluation
- Daily geological reporting to the operator
Cluster platform drilling, Sichuan Basin
05 Well construction
Directional drilling & geosteering
CCDC has drilled more than 25,000 deviated and horizontal wells, concentrated on HTHP, deep, high H2S and shale gas wells. It also builds its own rotary steerable system, CG STEER, rather than renting one in.
- Cluster platform design and operation, up to 31 wells from one pad
- Ultra-long horizontal sections held inside the target window
- Near-bit gamma and near-bit inclination for geosteering decisions at the bit
- Push-the-bit steering with single and double plunger devices
CG STEER rotary geosteering system
| Item | Range / rating | Control accuracy |
|---|---|---|
| Nominal outer diameter | Φ178 mm | — |
| Applicable borehole size | Φ215.9 mm | — |
| Maximum build-up rate | 15.3° / 30 m | — |
| Maximum weight on bit | 300 kN | — |
| Maximum operating temperature | 150 °C | — |
| Maximum tensile strength | 2,000 kN | — |
| Maximum torsion resistance | 40 kN·m | — |
| Well inclination | 0–180° | ±0.1° |
| Orientation | 0–360° | ±1° |
| Near-bit gamma | 0–500 API | ±3 API |
| Near-bit well deviation | 0–180° | ±0.03° |
| Hydraulic unit thrust | 0–30 kN | ±0.3 kN |
Firsts
- Well Mo3, 1965 — the first horizontal well in China
- Well BQ111H, 2007 — the first horizontal well in China drilled with gas
- Well Sam35-1H, 2009 — the first horizontal well in Turkmenistan
- Ning 209H23-2 — 298 hours of single-trip pure drilling time
- Yang 101H75-2 — operating at 146.8 °C in deep shale gas
- Steering services for horizontal wells at the Rechtsa oilfield, Belarus
Automated pipe handling on a CCDC rig
06 Well construction
Managed pressure drilling
CCDC developed CQMPD-I for wells where the margin between pore pressure and fracture pressure is too thin to drill conventionally. The system has been applied on more than 500 wells, and it is what makes a narrow safe density window drillable instead of a sequence of losses and kicks.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Rated pressure at wellhead | 35 MPa |
| Throttle operating pressure | 21 MPa |
| Wellhead pressure control accuracy | ±0.1 |
| Bottomhole pressure control accuracy | ±0.35 |
| PWD formation pressure | 175 MPa |
| PWD formation temperature | 175 °C |
| Throttle valve drive | Electrically operated |
| Response time | ≤ 0.5 s |
| Time from full open to full close | < 10 s |
Turkmenistan, five wells
- Resolved the narrow safety density window that had been stalling the field
- Drilling fluid loss cut by 90% against adjacent wells
- Drilling time in the pay zone shortened by 65%
- Time spent treating complications down by 95%
A pumping fleet rigged up on location
07 Well construction
Cementing
Cementing design, field operation, technology research and laboratory testing, backed by 202 cementing units. Slurry densities run from 1.30 to 2.65 g/cm³, which covers everything from a loss-prone shallow hole to an ultra-deep sour gas well.
Technology
- Anti-channelling technology for gas wells, and reservoirs with a water bed
- Horizontal sections beyond 2,000 m, and gas well horizontal section cementing
- Under-balance wells, HTHP wells, small hole sizes and ultra-deep wells
- Positive and reverse cementing, and low-pressure loss-prone well cementing
- Geothermal well cementing and multi-tool combinations
Slurry systems for "three-low" tight oil and gas wells
| Slurry system | Density | Performance indicator |
|---|---|---|
| Curable pad fluid | 1.15–1.18 g/cm³ | 24 h strength > 5 MPa |
| Low density, high strength | 1.15–1.30 g/cm³ | 24 h strength > 7 MPa, rheological index n > 0.85 |
| High strength and toughness | 1.90 ± 0.02 g/cm³ | 28 d compressive strength > 40 MPa, elastic modulus < 6 GPa |
The mud system alongside the rig
08 Well construction
Drilling & completion fluids
The CCDC Drilling Fluid Service Center has more than sixty years behind it, field experience in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Ecuador and Thailand, and two national-level laboratories in Chengdu: one for low permeability reservoirs, one for oil and gas field applied chemistry.
Fluid systems
- High temperature resistant, to 200 °C
- Ultra-high density drilling fluid, to 2.65 g/cm³
- Saturated brine drilling fluid, and clean brine completion fluid
- Oil based mud and clay-free polymer drilling fluid
- Shale gas water based drilling fluid
- Circulation loss control and treatment
On the operators' wells
| Operator | Result |
|---|---|
| Shell China, 2005–2015 | 9 rigs and 54 shale gas wells. TD at 5,413 m in 29.8 days with a 1,700 m horizontal by SBM — a best-class record across Shell's global projects. |
| BP shale gas, 2017–2019 | 10 wells. Polymer mud to MW 2.30 SG finished the vertical section in 51 days; OBM at MW 2.35 SG completed a 1,500 m horizontal section. |
| Chevron (Unocal East), 2010 | Five wells on non-damage kill mud and NaBr completion fluid. |
| ANDES, Ecuador, 2014– | CQ-GAP environmentally friendly WBM on 120 wells. SACHA290V was drilled in 11.88 days, 5.63 days ahead of design, the shortest drilling period on the field. |
| Turkmengazi, 2007– | The first horizontal well in Turkmenistan, Sa35-1H, on an HTHP saturated brine system at 160 °C and MW 2.42 SG — through 600 m of salt and gypsum in 15 days. |
| PetroChina | PS-6 at 9,026 m, and SY001-X1 at 8,600 m, both on HTHP water based mud. |
What the operators said
- Shell — Most Improved Contractor, for the SCEPCO Sichuan and Changbe wells
- BP — premium mud service on the Weiyuan Dong and RCB shale gas projects
- Chevron — the most progressive and capable Chinese fluid company
- ANDES — awarded several times for contributions to drilling and completion
Reservoir studies on display at Titas
09 Reservoir & integrity
Geological research
The CCDC Geological Exploration and Development Research Institute is the only overseas natural gas research centre inside CNPC. It is the group's answer to the question that decides a well before the bit turns: where exactly is the reservoir, and how should the well be placed in it.
- High-definition seismic processing and multi-scale reservoir evaluation
- Tectonic and stress field models, and formation pressure simulation
- 3D digital core modelling and mineralogical breakdown
- Numerical simulation of fracture permeability for brought-in wells
- Well group deployment design, including spoon-shaped and single-row layouts
Applied in 40 hydrocarbon blocks
Surface equipment on a live well
10 Reservoir & integrity
Workover & stimulation
Well testing, coiled tubing, fracturing and acidizing, stimulation and workover, run from a fleet of special units that CCDC owns and crews itself.
- Well testing and surface flow measurement
- Coiled tubing operations
- Fracturing and acidizing
- Stimulation operations on producing wells
- Workover, including snubbing on live wells
The special unit fleet
| Unit type | Count |
|---|---|
| Fracture unit (2000) | 172 |
| Fracture unit (2500) | 112 |
| Fracture unit (1000+700) | 79 |
| Cementing unit | 202 |
| Coiled tubing | 38 |
| Service rig | 138 |
| Snubbing unit | 11 |
The rescue team on a burning wellhead
11 Reservoir & integrity
Well control emergency response
The CNPC Well Control Response & Rescue Centre, the National Oil & Gas Field Rescue Base, was established in 1994 and is still the only one inside CNPC. It sits within CCDC, which is why a CCDC contract carries well control cover rather than a phone number for somebody else's.
- Development, review and update of emergency response plans
- Site operation supervision and technical support
- Accident and incident investigation and reporting
- Live well control emergency response and blowout intervention
An EPCC well on the Amu Darya, Turkmenistan
12 Reservoir & integrity
Cooperative energy development
CCDC contracts in whatever shape the operator needs: day rate, cost reimbursement, bundled service, turnkey, EPCC, risk exploration and development, or production sharing. It also owns and produces a gas field of its own, which is an unusual thing for a service company to be able to say.
Weiyuan shale gas block, Sichuan — owned and operated by CCDC
EPCC in Turkmenistan
- Two production capacity EPC projects: 8 billion m³ a year on the Amu Darya, and 10 billion m³ a year at the Galkynysh gas field
- The "10+2" integrated drilling project and the Nagarachi gas field, against the "six high" drilling challenges of the region
- Six consecutive lump-sum drilling rounds, more than 190 wells, and a 100% drilling success rate for 15 consecutive years
Bundled service for Chevron, Sichuan
- An ultra-high sulphur gas field, with rig service, mud logging, TRS, cementing, mud service and coring under one scope
Also within scope
The work around the work
Equipment inspection & HSE consultation
Third-party inspection of drilling and pressure equipment, and HSE consultancy for operators running their own programmes.
Digital & IT based field construction
Digital oilfield construction, and the operations software behind this project: Command, Wellsite and Crew, built for CCDC Bangladesh.
Civil works & camp construction
Location preparation, access, drainage and camp build, carried inside the turnkey scope so the operator receives a finished site.
Materials & chemical logistics
Receiving, storing and moving drilling chemicals and consumables between wells, as at Sylhet-10X for the Dupitila-1X programme.