Sichuan Basin serves as both a strategic national reserve and a prolific hydrocarbon resource hub. During the Jurassic period, multiple stages of lake basin expansion and vertical stacking developed several sets of high-quality source rocks. The Da’anzhai Member exhibits good favorable source-reservoir configurations with interbedded shales and limestones, and the Lianggaoshan Formation shale had strong hydrocarbon generation capacity and its interbedded shale had good oil storage performance. The Shaximiao Formation, characterized by widely distributed channel sand bodies is further supported by sourceconnected faults and high-quality cap rocks, making it the main battlefield for exploration and development of tight oil. On the basis of reviewing and summarizing the history of Sichuan crude oil exploration and development, including three crude oil battles, one crude oil production enhancement campaigns, and one tackling hard-nut technological problems, it is believed that implementing a new round of crude oil battles is imperative and feasible under the new era and new situation. The new Sichuan crude oil battle targeting unconventional oil is technically feasible with the support of two major technologies including “wideband- azimuth, high-density 3D seismic” and“ horizontal well volume fracturing”. The new battle requires the transformation from limestone to shale sandstone, from fractured to porous reservoirs, from structures to lithology, and the exploration of new exploration models that transition from source to near source. Under the principle of the above “four transformations”, we will carry out a new round of basic research on crude oil exploration and development, from an understanding of the system of crude oil generation, migration and accumulation to making overall arrangements for crude oil work in the Sichuan Basin.“ 3D seismicsystem evaluation-well drilling acceleration-high efficient hydraulic fracturing-long-term development” will be focused to carry out technical research and support, ensuring the achievement of the goal of producing one million tons of crude oil before 2030.

The mineral rights of the domestic oil and gas enterprises will be reduced by 20 percent between 2025 and 2027. This will affect the resource base for increasing the oil and gas reserves and production. It is necessary to study the management policies of mineral right transfer to improve the capacity of oil and gas enterprises to secure energy supplies. Based on analysis of the cases of mineral right transfer among Sinopec enterprises, this article summarizes the experience and lessons in the transferring process and studies the operational mechanism to accelerate mineral right transfer among the oil and gas enterprises.It also makes a systematic analysis of the related regulations for domestic oil and gas mineral right management and clarifies three ways of sales, joint venture, and cooperation for mineral right transfer among the oil and gas enterprises. Mineral right transfers among the oil and gas enterprises by means of joint venture and cooperation is an effective way to solve the difficulties in oil and gas mineral right management at present. However, some problems exist in the oil and gas mineral right transfers among the enterprises, such as competitive transfers unable to effectively make up for substantial reduction of the area of oil and gas mineral right and a new round of reduction for the high-quality mineral right likely to affect the growth in reserves and production. Consequently, it is proposed that the state should introduce the related preferential policies to accelerate mineral right transfer among the oil and gas enterprises, motivate mineral right holders to participate in the transfer of the low-degree exploration blocks, promote competitive transfer and cooperative transfer of mineral right, increase the total amount of mineral right supplied on the market, and perfect the system of mineral right transfer among the oil and gas enterprises to enhance the market vitality.

Smart transition is substantially a of digital and intelligent revolution to traditional industries. Facing the development trend for smart transition in the digital economic era and the value demand in the upstream oil and gas area like cost reduction,increase of efficiency, improvement of quality and risk control, CNPC carried out smart transition in the upstream oil and gas area. The efforts were focused on a series of bottlenecks in the informatization process of the oil and gas business, such as a multi-databases multi-platforms, isolated application, and the difficulties in data sharing, technological reuse, application development and business synergy. Aiming at construct “data lake+cloud platform+application scenario” model for swift application, the company experimented the development model of“ data lake housing, technology platformization, ability central platformization and operation ecologicalization.” Therefore, it constructed the“ central platform” as the core of the development policies and the ability supporting system to promote smart transition of the upstream oil and gas business. The remarkable achievements were made in this area. It also offered workable options for settlement of the challenges for smart industrial transition.

Thanks to the impacts of energy security, greenness and low carbon, and digital smart transformation, the theoretical and technological creation fueled by enhancement of disciplines is a basic dynamic power and an important link to improve the capacity for oil and gas supplies, construct the clean, low-carbon, safe and high-efficiency energy system, and accelerate development of the first-class research institutes. Taking PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development for instance, this article analyzes the necessity of strengthening disciplinary construction under the new situation and points out the inadequacies in the process of disciplinary construction. Focusing on transformation of conceptions, layout optimization, support of projects, fostering of talents and empowerment from management, the article proposes a series of policies, such as transition to “involvement of tasks in disciplines” from “involvement of disciplines in tasks” or the same emphasis placed on both aspects, formulation of the plans for disciplinary construction, more support for projects, fostering of disciplinary teams, enhancement of experiment platform construction, establishment of the windows for disciplinary exchanges,unification of disciplinary crossing and cross-disciplinary construction. Those suggestions provide references for accelerating construction of the company’s first-class research institutes.

In the context of low-carbon energy transition and technological upgrades, venture capital, as an important force driving technological innovation and corporate development, plays a critical role for petroleum and petrochemical enterprises in achieving breakthroughs in core technological innovation, positioning themselves in strategic emerging industries, enhancing new-quality productivity and bringing about industrial transition and modernization. Based on comparison with international oil majors, this article analyzes the current status and exiting issues facing China’s three major state-owned petroleum and petrochemical companies in the area of venture capital. It proposes a framework for developing the venture capital business,explores the support of technology enterprise incubators, and establishes a development model driven by both venture capital and incubators, thereby constructing innovation ecosystems for petroleum and petrochemical enterprises. It is proposed that the state-owned petroleum and petrochemical enterprises should establish a market-oriented synergistic mechanism of technology enterprise incubation and venture capital while focusing on their main businesses. They should also implement the strategy of “early investment, small investment, long-term investment and investment in hard technology” in the areas of oil and gas, new energy and related industrial chains, thus accelerating breakthroughs in core technologies and the cultivation and development of emerging industries.

Transformation of scientific and technological (S&T) achievements is the key link for deepening the integration of economy and technology. S&T achievement transformation involves long cycles, high risks, and is related to the verification of S&T achievements and the definition of S&T achievement transformation standards. With increasing investment in S&T research, the evaluation indexes of “S&T achievement transformation rate” has drawn attention from various sectors. National level studies on the calculation of this rate have been conducted within a certain scope. However, due to the inconsistent conceptual definitions, a unified standard statistical caliber has not been established. Different evaluation indexes have different adaptations. The state-owned energy enterprise is an important entity of S&T achievement transformation, but a series of problems exist in S&T achievement transformation, such as unclear definition of S&T achievements, inadequate professional service guarantee, and imperfection of transformation fostering and organizational management mechanism. According to the state-owned energy enterprise in the oil and gas industry characterized with the multi-element types of S&T achievements, it is necessary to unify the management caliber, enhance fostering of important S&T achievements, promote transformation and application of mature achievements, improve specialized services for S&T achievement transformation, secure fund for S&T achievement transformation and support of initial application, and clarify the duties and responsibilities of the main bodies and the examination targets for S&T achievement transformation. Thus comprehensively improving the management level of the company’s S&T achievement transformation.

The research on patent applications and patent portfolio strategies of foreign oil companies is of significant reference to China’s oil enterprises in optimizing technological innovation pathways, refining patent strategies, and enhancing patent competitiveness. The patent applications of foreign oil companies have exhibited a “rapid growth-rapid decline-steady development” pattern. The geographical distribution follows a synergistic approach featuring “deepening core markets+penetrating emerging markets+enhancing efficiency through regional cooperation”. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and European Patent Office (EPO) have become the main pathways for patent portfolio strategy, and The United States was deliberately chosen as the inaugural country. Additionally, the deployment in emerging markets has taken shape, with Brazil, China and India have become key targets for patent portfolio strategies. Meanwhile, the role of regional patent cooperation organizations has become increasingly prominent, while patent portfolios remain undeveloped in African and other regions. In terms of technology focus, traditional oil and gas technology retains dominance, but the emerging industrial technology is under accelerated development. Carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and wind energy technology are worth continual attention. Digitalization and cross-disciplinary integration become the new orientation for patent distribution. It is recommended that China’s oil enterprises should learn from the foreign oil companies, and balance the relations between patent application quantity and quality, particularly controlling quality at the source during patent creation. It is necessary to further enhance patent strategy in the market competition area and emerging industries, focusing on the green and low-carbon technology areas, such as CCUS, wind energy and hydrogen energy. It is also necessary to establish the global synergistic distribution system according to the overseas business demand and continually improve the companies’ global market competitiveness.

This article focuses on the frontier of AI development in the oil and petrochemical industrial intrinsic safety technology and makes a systematic analysis of the current conditions that AI technology is used in the oil and petrochemical industry. It also makes an in-depth analysis of innovations in six key technologies--sensing and monitoring, identification and cognition, analyzing and decision-making, prediction and early warning, alarming and control, and treatment of emergency case.It analyzes the problems and challenges facing AI application, such as data quality problems, bottlenecks in multi-source data integration, inadequate model adaptability, and shortage of AI talents. In the future, it is necessary to enhance data treatment,deepen model optimization, step up fostering of talents, and perfect the preferential policies. Those efforts will further solve the technological bottlenecks. In-depth application of AI technology will help the oil and petrochemical industry to realize the transition from experienced-based to data-driven safety paradigm and offer key technological support for building of the modern energy safety system.

It is of great urgency to fracturing development of low-permeability oil and gas reservoirs at lower cost and higher efficiency. Therefore, intelligence holds the key to accelerate reservoir fracturing technological development. This article discusses the intelligent development route of fracturing renovation technology and examines seven core competitive elements for intelligent development of key fracturing technology. They include two elements invisible on the fracturing site (experimental appraisal and basic theory as well as optimization of design and software) and five elements visible on the site (renovation equipment, the liquid system, proppant, tools and process technology, and fracturing monitoring and diagnosis technology). It points out that the ultimate target of intelligent fracturing is to complete a series of work on the basis of the least human intervention, such as pre-fracturing assessment, identification of dual sweet spots, optimization of parameters in time,real-time diagnosis of working conditions, real-time regulation of on-site tools and materials, early warning of risks, rapid fracturing monitoring, prediction of production, and post-fracturing system assessment. Extension of intelligent fracturing in the overseas projects calls for breakthroughs in the seven key elements one by one. Initial application of intelligent fracturing technology has achieved significant results, high-frequency pressured fracture monitoring and interactive optimization design in particular.

Driven by the global goal of carbon neutrality, hydrogen, as a clean and efficient energy carrier, is becoming a key force in promoting deep decarbonization in the industrial sector. This article focuses on the current application and future development of hydrogen in industrial decarbonization. The technological challenges for hydrogen utilization in some key areas,such as metallurgy, high-temperature industrial furnaces, gas-fired turbines and hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engines,are systematically analyzed. In addition, the carbon reduction potential of hydrogen in the metallurgical industry is analyzed by comparing pros and cons of the two main technological routes--hydrogen-enriched blase furnace iron-making and hydrogenbased direct reduction iron-making. The feasibility and case studies of substituting fossil fuels with hydrogen in hightemperature manufacturing processes like ceramics, cement, and glass is studied. The contributions of hydrogen-fired gas turbines in improving the flexibility of the electric power system and the prospects of hydrogen internal combustion turbines in the heavy-duty machinery and power peak-saving, are elaborated. The study shows that despite the rapid development of the global hydrogen industry and continuous growth in announced investments, ,the large-scale application of hydrogen technology still faces multiple challenges, including high costs, insufficient maturity of core technologies, lagging infrastructure, and an incomplete safety standards system. Therefore, it is recommended to systematically promote the application of hydrogen energy in China’s industrial sector by strengthening key technological exploration, accelerating infrastructure deployment, improving the industrial chain and standards system, and deepening international cooperation to help achieve the“ dual carbon” goals.

Against the backdrop of stern challenge posed by global climatic changes and the pursuit of sustainable developmentgoals, green transition of energy has become the common objective of the international community. Green hydrogen, produced through water electrolysis using renewable energy, demonstrates unique socio-economic value and potential due to its high energy density and capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. With green transition of the petrochemical industry making progress, green hydrogen is likely to see a rapid growth in output and demand. It has a broad prospect for application in replacement of refinery raw materials and fossil fuels as well as production of clean fuels like green ammonia and green methanol. This article comes up with the suggestions on green hydrogen development of the petrochemical industry, including formulation of the related preferential policies, enhancement of industrial chain development, focusing on the possible bottlenecks existing in green hydrogen technological development, and promoting its adoption by partially replacing gray hydrogen. With advancements in hydrogen production and storage technologies, green hydrogen is poised to enable the petrochemical industry to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, thereby accelerating its green transition.

Hydrogen energy has become the key force to accelerate low-carbon transition in the areas of industry, building and communications. Green hydrogen produced by renewable energy electrolytic water technology is regarded as the best option for low-carbon transition of energy thanks to its near-zero emission in the production process. Currently, renewable energy hydrogen production has a high cost and a poor economic performance and calls for extra economic results to promote extension of the related technology. This article elaborates the main international voluntary carbon reduction mechanisms and carbon asset development conditions. It points out that the carbon asset development feasibility of the renewable energy hydrogen production projects requires economic performance of carbon reduction and more financial support. The current carbon-reducing methodology of renewable energy hydrogen production faced some challenges in the Chinese practice, such as instability of new energy powered electricity generation and inadequacy of the existing energy storage facilities in particular. To formulate the carbon-reducing methodology of renewable energy hydrogen production suitable for China’s conditions, the article proposes to set a reasonable proportion of renewable energy application, adopt the default value of baseline that is close to and in line with China’s current conditions and simplify operation for identification of the baseline scenarios.