Petroleum geology and exploration of the Bongor basin / Геология углеводородов и поиски в бассейне Бонгор

The modern oil industry began to take shape in 1859. Since then, oil companies, many of which have become super-major international enterprises, have been conducting exploration, development, and other operations in almost every corner of the world. Imbalances determine the structure of the industry in the distribution of oil and gas resources, differences in levels of economic development between nations, the physical and economic dislocation between the countries which host resources and the countries where they are primarily consumed, and of course, the pursuit of profit by the oil companies themselves (Tong 2018). Transnational oil and gas exploration has been carried out intensively and continuously for more than 100 years, and the more accessible onshore blocks have now undergone many rounds of exploration. As a result, international oil companies have shifted their focus to deep sea and polar regions. The remaining onshore blocks are now challenging to explore for geological, geographical, and other reasons. The success rate of risk exploration projects worldwide has fallen to only 10%, and the probability of discovering large oil and gas fields is significantly reduced (Rose 2001). 
Since the beginning of China’s ‘reform and opening up’, particularly with the explosive economic development of the 1980s, domestic oil production has been unable to keep pace with the development of the national economy. The “go global” initiative, conceived as a path towards equitable sharing of the world’s oil and gas resources, represents a means to counter this shortfall and is an important factor in ensuring China’s national energy security (Tong et al. 2002). In 1992, following extensive research and discussion, the China National Petroleum Corporation (hereinafter referred to as CNPC) proposed three development strategies: “stabilizing the east, developing the west”; “developing oil and gas simultaneously”; and “implementing international operations”. CNPC accordingly embarked on the “go global” initiative. Facing competition from major international oil companies, CNPC formulated a three-phase strategy (Zhou 2004). During the initial exploration phase (1993– 1996), CNPC bid for and won small-scale projects in Papua New Guinea, Peru, Sudan (No. 6 area), Thailand, and elsewhere. This was followed by the ‘growth and development’ phase (1997–2002), during which CNPC obtained projects in the Blocks 1/2/4 and Blocks 3/7 in Sudan, a service contract in Venezuela, the Aktobe project in Kazakhstan, and other large-scale exploration and development projects, driving a rapid increase in reserves and production. In 2003, CNPC entered the ‘scale expansion’ phase and began to engage in the field of exploration, taking considerable risks and striving to find “golden eggs”. Africa, a region with traditionally friendly relations with China, was one of the earliest strategic targets for CNPC’s “go global” strategy and has been the most successful in terms of exploration and development results, delivering considerable benefits for all partners. <...>