On March 28, 2026, Sinopec announced that China's first million ton carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) project, the Shengli Oilfield CCUS project, has injected over 1.3 billion cubic meters of carbon dioxide underground, setting a new historical high and planting nearly 9 million trees on Earth.

Digging Gold from Carbon

This is not simply 'burying carbon', but 'using carbon'. CCUS， This technology may sound a bit convoluted, but its core is to find a good place to capture, transport, and 'feed' industrial carbon dioxide emissions to old oil fields that are dormant underground. A miracle occurred: under the pressure and "miscibility" of carbon dioxide, the originally viscous and difficult to extract residual crude oil was driven and stripped, continuously gushing out of the ground.

The practice of Shengli Oilfield vividly illustrates this' underground revolution '. Since the operation of the project, the daily crude oil production of the target block has jumped from 220 tons to 480 tons, achieving a doubling of production and a cumulative increase of 250000 tons of crude oil. On one hand, there is a significant reduction in emissions, and on the other hand, there is a significant increase in production. This "eating carbon and spitting oil" technology perfectly balances the two major issues of green development and energy security, successfully completing a key leap from laboratory technology verification to large-scale industrial implementation.

Conquer the four major levels

However, this path of turning waste into treasure is not a smooth one. For a long time, efficient and low-cost capture, long-distance safe transportation, high proportion of permanent storage, and localization of key equipment have been the four major obstacles facing the large-scale development of CCUS in China. In the past, core technology and equipment were once dependent on imports.

In the face of challenges, Shengli Oilfield launched a zero to one research and development campaign. In the capture process, the self-developed low-energy technology has reduced energy consumption and costs by 19% and 30% respectively. In the transportation process, the world's first 100 kilometer level "supercritical intelligent pipeline" containing impurities of carbon dioxide has been built and has been safely operated for over 1000 days. In the oil recovery and storage process, innovative technologies have increased crude oil recovery by more than 15 percentage points and ensured 100% safe storage of carbon dioxide underground. At the same time, all core equipment has been localized, clearing obstacles for large-scale promotion of technology. A complete Chinese industrial chain covering "capture transport utilization storage" has been established.

From China Plan to World Passport

The success of the CCUS project in Shengli Oilfield not only provides a key technological path for China to achieve its "dual carbon" goals, but its "Chinese solution" is also gaining worldwide attention. Recently, at the 51st Geneva International Invention Exhibition, the key technical equipment of this project stood out from numerous inventions around the world and won the highest honor, the "Special Commendation Gold Award", with an award rate of only about 2%. This award, known as the 'Olympics of Invention', is the highest recognition of its originality and breakthrough.

This is not the first time it has received international recognition. As early as 2023, the project had already passed the international flagship project certification at the Global Carbon Sequestration Leadership Forum (CSLF) and obtained a "pass" in the global carbon sequestration field.

Li Yang, academician of the CAE Member, commented that this marks that China's CCUS full chain technology has reached the international leading level. Jared Daniels, CEO of the Global Carbon Capture and Storage Institute, also believes that China's demonstration projects are becoming increasingly mature, laying a solid foundation for the large-scale commercial application of CCUS worldwide and playing a leading role. Every injection of carbon dioxide underground tells the story of China's technology turning carbon emissions into treasure and helping the world tackle climate change.Editor/Yang Meiling