Following Sun Wentong's order, all the staff on the Blue Whale entered a war-ready state, and all preparations for mining were completed at each position.
Separated by more than a thousand meters of sea water and more than 200 meters deep into the drilling depth of the seabed, various downhole equipment has been installed, the transformation of the flammable ice underground reservoir has been completed, and everyone is waiting for the final order from the master control room.
This is a milestone moment in the history of China's energy development.
Sun Wentong, the commander-in-chief of natural gas hydrate trial production, gently picked up the walkie-talkie in front of him.
At this moment, there is only a slight electromagnetic sound in the communication channel, and everyone on the Blue Whale is waiting for that sound.
"I order the A1-3 natural gas hydrate experimental production well in the Shenhu Sea Area to prepare to start pumping and reducing pressure!"
As the pressure around the test well slowly decreased, the combustible ice in the nearby reservoir began to gradually decompose, and water and natural gas immediately rushed along the test well to the Blue Whale, which was more than a thousand meters above the ground.
Lu Jiaxiang and other experts and scholars were in the main control room with Sun Wentong, staring closely at the various data on the screen. Watching the natural gas indicators rising rapidly, the tense faces began to slowly relax.
In front of the big screen in the conference room, many off-duty workers and technicians were sitting together, looking at various data that had been specially synchronized. Some technical experts were also responsible for "explaining" the quality of key data.
Feng Chenyi was not involved. He was standing on the platform deck of the Blue Whale. In his field of vision, apart from the endless sea, there was only the torch arm stretching into the air.
This is the most intuitive sign that shows whether mining is successful.
At this time, there is no flame on the torch arm, only the water mist that keeps spurting out. The water mist looks like a snow-white wedding dress, quietly waiting for the arrival of the beautiful bride.
The crowd around them looked like anxious grooms.
"Commander-in-Chief, sufficient natural gas concentration has been detected!"
"ignition!"
Just when Feng Chen and others were looking forward to it, at that moment, a ball of flame appeared from the torch arm, which suddenly made everyone present look in disbelief.
The time at this moment is fixed at 14:52.
The natural gas hydrate deposits from the rock formations 203-277 meters below the seabed with a water depth of 1,266 meters in the Shenhu Sea area of the South China Sea have been generated by the creation of heaven and earth for hundreds of millions of years. The natural gas was finally mined by the Blue Whale from the motherland.
"Ignition successful!" The surveillance camera nearby on the torch arm immediately captured this exciting historical moment.
The huge flames of natural gas burning are particularly beautiful under the reflection of water mist. Many people took out their cameras and captured this exciting picture.
The Blue Whale was boiling instantly, and Feng Chendong shed tears of excitement. Since he joined Fuhai Group through the hero post to participate in the design work of the Blue Whale, he has witnessed so many joys and sorrows, witnessed so many hardships, and also
How many joys, sorrows and joys have I experienced.
At this moment, he felt that all the efforts were worth it!
Among the cheering crowd, only one person remained as calm as ever. He stood in front of the main operator, with no joy on his face. His eyes hidden behind thick lenses stared at the data on the screen intently.
Following the small changes above.
"Why do I think Researcher Lu is unhappy?" Someone also discovered this problem and suddenly felt uneasy.
Whether mining can proceed smoothly now depends on whether the mining plan formulated by Lu Jiaxiang's team can withstand the test of practice.
On the screen in the main control room, the conditions downhole and on the seabed are clearly displayed, and everything seems to be without any problems.
"General Commander, the current natural gas output of the test production well is one thousand cubic meters per hour. According to the mining plan, this amount can continue to increase!"
"Very good, pay attention to the changes in the underground situation!" Sun Wentong glanced at Lu Jiaxiang not far away and immediately walked over.
"Xiao Lu, congratulations!"
"Commander, now is not the time to be happy!" Lu Jiaxiang showed no joy at all when facing Sun Wentong's congratulations.
Sun Wentong also knows what is going on. The mining of combustible ice is currently a global problem. China has only been involved in it for a relatively short time, while some countries in the world have been studying this for decades, especially neighboring countries.
As early as ten years ago, a flammable ice gas well was drilled in the Nanhai Trough, which was able to remove tens of thousands of cubic meters of natural gas.
However, due to the inherent sand control problem of combustible ice, mining activities have been plagued. This hidden danger eventually caused the mining pipeline to be blocked by sediment, and the mining work was finally forced to stop.
The situation of this mining well was originally used as a sample for analysis by the Geological Survey, and the trial mining activities in the Shenhu Sea area tried to avoid this situation.
It's just that the flammable ice reservoir in the Shenhu Sea Area is an immature ultra-fine reservoir, and both the content and fineness of sediment far exceed the level of foreign exploration.
Although Lu Jiaxiang's team has developed a method to extract formation fluids to suppress the influx of sediment, in the face of such complex geological conditions, no one dares to guarantee whether this theoretically feasible method will be successful.
One hour passed, two hours passed, three hours passed.
The conditions of the test production wells were unexpectedly stable, and the decomposed natural gas was continuously produced, with the hourly output maintained at the production level of 1,000-1,500 cubic meters.
If we continue to produce at this level, it will take less than two days to surpass the test wells of neighboring countries. That test well only produced a total of about 30,000 cubic meters of natural gas, and it took a lot of time. In addition to verification,
Apart from the production of flammable ice, it does not have any other reference value.
By the time night fell, the Blue Whale had already mined more than 5,000 cubic meters of natural gas, and its blazing torch arms illuminated the surrounding sea, shining even brighter than the brightest light on the Blue Whale.
"Xiao Lu, are you still worried?" Sun Wentong asked Lu Jiaxiang, who was staring intently, after the test well had been working stably for four hours.
At this time, Lu Jiaxiang relaxed his serious expression slightly, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.
"Commander-in-Chief, it seems you can report to the Geological Survey and the national ministries and commissions!"
"What are you reporting?" Sun Wentong also showed a rare sense of humor at this time.
"Of course it is to report that we have successfully mined combustible ice in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea and continued stable production for four hours. At this rate, in two days, our natural gas output will surpass that of our international counterparts!"
Lu Jiaxiang didn't seem to understand Sun Wentong's humor, but preached seriously.