Editing Daqing Oil Field

{{Short description|Largest oil field in China}}
{{Infobox oil field
| name        = Daqing Oil Field
| image       = 大庆油田有限责任公司大楼2017.jpg
| caption     = Main Building of Daqing Oil Field Co. Ltd.
| location_map       = China
| location_map_width = 
| location_map_text  = 
| coordinates = {{coord|46.60|N|124.90|E|type:landmark|display=inline,title}}
| coordinates_ref    = 
| country     = China
| region      = [[Heilongjiang]] province
| location    = 
| block       = 
| offonshore  = Onshore
| operator    = Daqing Oilfield Company Limited
| partners    = 
| contractors = 
| discovery         = 1959
| start_development = 
| start_production  = 1960
| peak_year         = 2008
| abandonment       =
| peak_of_production_oil_bbl/d    = 800000
| peak_of_production_oil_tpy      = 
| peak_of_production_gas_mmcuft/d =
| peak_of_production_gas_mmscm/d  =
| peak_of_production_gas_bcm/y    =
| oil_production_bbl/d = 600000
| oil_production_tpy = 
| production_year_oil = 2021
| production_gas_mmcuft/d =
| production_gas_mmscm/d =
| production_gas_bcm/y =
| production_year_gas =
| est_oil_bbl     = 16000
| est_oil_t       =
| recover_oil_bbl = 3600
| recover_oil_t   =
| est_gas_bft     =
| est_gas_bcm     = 
| recover_gas_bft =
| recover_gas_bcm =
| formations      =
}}
The '''Daqing Oil Field''' ({{zh|s=大庆油田|t=大慶油田|p=Dàqìng Yóutián}}), formerly [[romanization|romanized]] as "Taching",<ref>[http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/20021/1960nian.htm China today] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070929102905/http://www.chinatoday.com.cn/English/20021/1960nian.htm |date=2007-09-29 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/classics/lifeundermao/newchina1975.html#p88 New China's first quarter-century (1975)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081201215316/http://www.etext.org/Politics/MIM/classics/lifeundermao/newchina1975.html |date=2008-12-01 }}</ref> is the largest [[oil field]] in the [[People's Republic of China]], located between the [[Songhua river]] and [[Nen River]] in [[Heilongjiang]] province. When the Chinese government began to use [[pinyin]] for romanization, the field's name became known as Daqing.

It is the largest oil deposit discovered in China and its ability to support China's industrialization changed the country's developmental path.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=26}} Daqing oil field contained {{convert|16|Goilbbl}} or 2.2 billion tons in the beginning and has produced over {{convert|10|Goilbbl}} of oil since production started in 1960; the remaining recoverable reserves are about {{convert|3.6|Goilbbl}} or 500 million tons.

==History==
Daqing oil field is located in the Songliao Basin, a large sedimentary basin that is in the tectonic framework of the North China-Mongolia tract.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=25}}  

In 1959, the oil field was discovered by [[Li Siguang]]. Iron Man [[Wang Jinxi]] (who led No. 1205 drilling team) worked on this oilfield. [[Daqing Inaugural Oil Well|The first oil well]] was drilled on September 26, 1959.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=2}} Because the success occurred four days before the [[10th anniversary of the People's Republic of China|tenth anniversary of the People's Republic of China]], the field was named Daqing, meaning "great celebration."<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=26}} The discovery of the oil field made the [[Manchuria]] region a national center for the oil industry.<ref name=":04">{{Cite book |last=Hirata |first=Koji |title=Making Mao's Steelworks: Industrial Manchuria and the Transnational Origins of Chinese Socialism |date=2024 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-009-38227-4 |series=Cambridge Studies in the History of the People's Republic of China series |location=New York, NY}}</ref>{{Rp|page=15}} 

During its 1960 construction during the [[Great Leap Forward]], Oil Minister [[Yu Qiuli]] mobilized workers building the Daqing oil field through ideological motivation instead of material incentives, focusing enthusiasm, energy, and resources to complete a rapid industrialization project.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=52-53}} The successful construction of the Daqing oil field despite harsh weather conditions and supply limitations became a model held up by the Communist Party as an example during subsequent industrialization campaigns.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|pages=52-54}} 

In April 1960, Yu stated that Mao Zedong's texts ''[[On Practice]]'' and ''[[On Contradiction]]'' should be the ideological core of the Daqing oil field campaign.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=150}} The Ministry of the Petroleum Industry shipped thousands of copies by plane so that every Daqing oil worker would have copies and for work units to each set up their own study groups.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=150}}  

Daqing oil field was a secret until 1964.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=32}} On February 5, 1964, the central Party promoted Daqing oil field to other industrial enterprises, instructing them to follow the "all-out battle" tactics of Daqing oil field.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=53}} Shortly afterwards, Mao Zedong praised the Daqing oil field at an education work conference, stating that with a "little investment" in a "short period of time" a "great achievement" had been finished.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=54}} ''[[People's Daily]]'' and other state media published numerous articles on Daqing in 1964, extolling the self-discipline of Daqing workers, their study of [[Maoism|Mao Zedong thought]], and the technical achievements resulting from the democratic participation of workers.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=148}} Most significant among these articles was the April 20, 1964 piece "Daqing People, Daqing Spirit" which ''People's Daily'' published.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=148}} The article compared Daqing to [[Yan'an]], the base area where the Communist Party regrouped after the [[Long March]].<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=148}}

The field was financed through commodity-backed loans that China obtained from [[China–Japan relations|Japan]].<ref name=":Chen">{{Cite book |last=Chen |first=Muyang |title=The Latecomer's Rise: Policy Banks and the Globalization of China's Development Finance |date=2024 |publisher=[[Cornell University Press]] |isbn=9781501775857 |location=Ithaca and London}}</ref>{{Rp|page=98}} China repaid these loans with oil.<ref name=":Chen" />{{Rp|page=98}} 

The project delivered critical economic benefits because without the production of the Daqing oil field, crude oil would have been severely limited after the Soviet Union cut off supplies as a result of the [[Sino-Soviet split]].<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=53}} 

The first two years of the [[Cultural Revolution]] resulted in major disruptions to [[Petroleum industry in China|China's petroleum industry]] and an oil shortage by 1967.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=159}} In March of that year, the [[People's Liberation Army]] was called to Daqing to maintain order so that oil production could proceed.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=159}} This made Daqing one of the first places brought under military control during the Cultural Revolution.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=159}} In May 1968, the Daqing [[Revolutionary committee (China)|Revolutionary Committee]] was established.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=159}} Iron Man Wang became its vice director.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|pages=159-160}} The Daqing Oil Field was among 2,400 central [[State-owned enterprises of China|state-owned enterprises]] transferred to local government control in 1970.<ref name=":04" />{{Rp|page=255}} The Daqing oil field continued to be a major driver of economic growth through during the chaotic Cultural Revolution era.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=160}} 

During the period 1964 to 1980, the oil field accounted for more than half of China's crude oil production per year.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=2}} In 1966, crude oil production in Daqing reached 10 million metric tons and the number of workers at Daqing reached 58,000.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=123}} 

In the mid 1980s, the oil field generated 3% of China's state revenue through a combination of the profits and tax payments it supplied.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=2}}

As of 2013 the field's production rate was about {{convert|800,000|oilbbl/d||abbr=}}.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Timmons|first=Heather|title=The massive, aging oil fields at the heart of China's latest corruption purge|url=https://qz.com/121130/there-is-a-monster-aging-oil-field-at-the-heart-of-chinas-petro-purge/|access-date=2020-09-16|website=Quartz|date=5 September 2013 |language=en}}</ref>

Daqing Oilfield Company Limited, based in [[Daqing]], is the operator of exploration and development of Daqing Oilfield. From 2004, the company plans to cut its crude oil output by an annual 7% for the next seven years to extend the life of Daqing.<ref name="Daqing">{{cite web |url=http://www.china.org.cn/english/BAT/86495.htm |title=Daqing Oilfield to Slash Output in 2004}}</ref>

Output of [[barrels of oil equivalent]] of the Daqing Field remained stable at over 40 million tons in 2012, while output at [[Changqing oil field]] was over 42 million tons, making it the most productive oil and gas field in China.<ref>[http://www.4-traders.com/PETROCHINA-COMPANY-LIMITE-6499999/news/PetroChina-Company-Limited-PetroChina-Achieves-Record-High-in-Oil-and-Gas-Production-in-2012-Stead-16564095/ PetroChina Oil output in 2012]</ref>

Crude output from the ageing Daqing oilfield is in decline even though the CNPC deployed some non-traditional drilling techniques. In 2019, output fell to 30.9 million tonnes from 32 million tonnes in 2018. At its peak in 2008, output stood at 40 million tonnes a year.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://energy.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/oil-and-gas/chinas-daqing-to-boost-oil-refining-and-petrochemical-production/74947432|title = China's Daqing to boost oil refining and petrochemical production - ET EnergyWorld}}</ref>
The production was 30 million tonnes in 2021. <ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/cnoocs-bohai-overtakes-daqing-chinas-largest-oil-field-2022-01-10|title = CNOOC's Bohai overtakes Daqing as China's largest oil field|newspaper = Reuters|date = 10 January 2022}}</ref>

A new shale oil field was discovered in Daqing Oilfield in 2021, with an estimated geological reserve of 1.268 billion tons.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Major shale oilfield discovered in Daqing|url=http://english.www.gov.cn/news/topnews/202108/26/content_WS6126e766c6d0df57f98df2b1.html|access-date=2021-10-19|website=english.www.gov.cn}}</ref>

== Ideological significance ==
The Chinese government promoted the success of the Daqing oilfield and the selflessness of workers who built it as part of the face of new the socialist industrial person that China sought to encourage in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Meyskens |first=Covell F. |url= |title=Mao's Third Front: The Militarization of Cold War China |date=2020 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-108-78478-8 |location=Cambridge, United Kingdom |doi=10.1017/9781108784788 |oclc=1145096137 |s2cid=218936313}}</ref>{{Rp|page=29}} The Chinese press urged industrial workers to follow the model of ascetic living practiced by workers on the Daqing oilfield in order to advance China's development of socialist modernity.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=29}} Recruitment events for the [[Third Front (China)|Third Front]] construction, a massive campaign to develop basic industry and national defense industry in China's interior in case of invasion by the United States or the Soviet Union, urged prospective Third Front workers to learn from the Daqing oil field and "use revolutionary spirit to avoid all difficulties."<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=94}} During the Third Front, the model of the Daqing oilfield went from being a slogan to a fundamental principle behind the centrally directed and militarized industrialization campaign.<ref name=":0" />{{Rp|page=66}}

"Iron Man" Wang Jinxi was the most significant [[model worker]] in Daqing oil field,<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=137}} and remains one of the most celebrated working class models in China.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=139}} An experienced oil worker from the [[Yumen City|Yumen]] Oil Field, Wang was one of the first oil workers to arrive to work the Daqing field in Saertu.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=137}} At Daqing, Wang was one of the first model workers selected by [[Yu Qiuli]] due to Wang's devotion to the oil production industry and to competitive work.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=139}}

== Administration ==
The Daqing Oil Field Management Bureau and [[PetroChina]] Daqing Company are located in West Town in Daqing.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Hou |first=Li |title=Building for Oil: Daqing and the Formation of the Chinese Socialist State |date=2021 |publisher=[[Harvard University Asia Center]] |isbn=978-0-674-26022-1 |edition= |series=[[Harvard-Yenching Institute]] monograph series |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |pages=}}</ref>{{Rp|page=2}}

==In popular culture==
In 1964, chief director of the Central Experimental Theater [[Sun Weishi]] and her husband, the actor [[Jin Shan]], traveled to Daqing to live and work with the oil workers and their families.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=141}} The next year, the Communist Party journal ''Red Flag'' published an article by Sun which praised the Daqing people.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|pages=141-142}} After living in Daqing for two years, Sun Weishi returned to Beijing to produce the play ''The Rising Sun'', which was based on the experiences of people in Daqing, particularly Daqing women.<ref name=":02" />{{Rp|page=142}}

It is featured as a map in first-person shooter video game ''[[Battlefield 2]]''.<ref>{{Citation|title=Daqing Oilfields (PRC vs USMC)|url=https://www.ign.com/wikis/battlefield-2/Daqing_Oilfields_(PRC_vs_USMC)|language=en|access-date=2020-09-16}}</ref>

It was also featured in a dedicated part of the ''[[How Yukong Moved the Mountains]]'' documentary, "About Petroleum".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Ding|first=Gang|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3kOxDwAAQBAJ&q=daqing+oil+fields+&pg=PA231|title=Selected Essays on China's Education: Research and Review, Volume 1: Written and Oral Narratives|date=2019-09-16|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-40960-6|pages=231|language=en}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|China|Energy}}
*[[List of oil fields]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Heilongjiang topics}}

[[Category:Oil fields in China]]
[[Category:Geography of Heilongjiang]]
[[Category:Daqing]]