Homo sapiens.

Chapter 176 Energy
Li Qingye in Medan Island received the report from Chen Jianxiong and Domino. After reading it, he was very satisfied with the progress of the security department.

Then input his command into the earphone, and ask Garfield to reply to the two of them as soon as possible.

He himself continued with the work at hand.

At this time, he was in the Zamboanga area of ​​Medan Island, where a methane fermentation plant was set up, and the research base was right next to the methane fermentation plant.

A 30-meter-high dome steel structure was built at this base, which tightly wrapped the interior, and it was declared to be a new type of methane fermentation tank.

Three fresh graduates recruited from Huaguo Petroleum University and two old engineers recruited from Shengli Oilfield are busy drilling wells.

They have already acquired Luzon nationality, and they can participate in this project only when they bring their family members here.

Veteran engineer Qi Yuanchao and his wife Zhang Hong are both veteran engineers of Shengli Oilfield. One is engaged in drilling and the other is in geological survey. They have both retired for several years.

The couple actually didn't want to come to Luzon, but luckily, the only son got lung cancer, which almost used up the old couple's life savings, and the grandchildren were waiting.

As a last resort, the two had no choice but to return to their old jobs, but the country would not want retired old people, and even if they did, the salary level would not be much higher, and the couple were not the kind of people who would make money.

In the end, the HR department of Homo sapiens company came to visit in person. In front of the real money, the couple were still moved.

After arriving in Luzon, his son was quickly admitted to the Homo sapiens company hospital.

Li Qingye even took a shot himself, using genetic technology to cultivate a gene bomb that specifically restrained his lung cancer cells, and directly killed the cancer cells in Qi Yuanchao's son.

Seeing their son gradually recovering, Qi Yuanchao and his wife also reciprocated, not only helping Homo Sapiens explore oil and gas, but also helping to lead some newcomers and compile some teaching materials.

At this time, the drilling equipment in the base had reached about 300 meters underground.

Qi Yuanchao and Zhang Hong carefully inspected the core that was taken out.

"Teacher, this should be oil shale, right?" Another young prospective engineer asked.

Qi Yuanchao nodded: "Yes, starting from 273 meters, it is oil-bearing shale. Now it depends on the specific thickness."

The equipment continued to drill down, and over time, until the depth of 362 meters, the oil shale was interrupted.

They looked at cores from five other wells.

While writing the data, Zhang Hong said: "The average depth of oil-bearing shale in this area is between 260 and 370 meters, and the thickness reaches about 90 to 110 meters. It is a good shale oil reservoir."

The reason Homo sapiens is focusing on shale oil and shale gas is mainly because Luzon's natural gas and oil reserves are too small, and the only natural gas field that can be exploited on a large scale is also on the verge of depletion.

Although the current methane production of Homo sapiens in Luzon reaches 67 billion cubic meters per month, this amount is still too small.

As for oil and natural gas in Malaysia, they themselves will also be exhausted. In addition, many oil and gas fields there are contracted by European and American companies. If the contract cannot be rejected, Malaysia's oil and gas supply is not enough.

In particular, Siam and Hongshawadi are areas with relatively poor oil and natural gas resources.

It is obviously difficult for one to support three in Malaysia.

Therefore Homo sapiens must find a way to tap its own potential resources.

Because the Luzon Islands are located at the junction of plates, it is basically difficult to have large oil and natural gas reservoirs, but this does not mean that Luzon has no potential for fossil fuel mining.

Frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions will lead to the destruction of oil and gas reservoirs, making it difficult to form large oil fields.

However, the igneous rock layer formed by volcanic eruption is a kind of sparse porous rock inside. Therefore, the oil and gas that are destroyed and divided will gradually transfer to the pores of part of the igneous rock during the long-lasting geological movement, forming an oil-bearing igneous rock layer.

The other part is shale, which is also a good oil storage rock.

Homo sapiens is now focusing on finding these two rock formations in Luzon.

Among them, Luzon Island has a lot of igneous rock distribution, while Medan Island has a lot of shale distribution.

As for how to mine.

That's why Li Qingye came here.

After identifying the oil-bearing shale formation, technicians and engineers quickly installed gas extraction lines, as well as water injection lines.

Li Qingye injected the improved version of genetically modified methane bacteria into the water tank with special hormones.

"let's start!"

"Yes, Dr. Lee."

This time, the identity here is Dr. Li Min who studies genetically modified methanogens, and this is also one of Li Qingye's vests.

The technician flips the switch.

Everyone watched as the water solution in the water tank decreased rapidly and was pushed into the underground oil shale by the water injection pipeline.

As time goes by, the gas pressure sensor in the gas extraction pipeline begins to feed back the signal of the downhole pressure increase.

Without even activating the pump, a large amount of methane began to rise from the bottom of the well.

"The air output has reached 400 cubic meters per day...it is still increasing."

"It has exceeded the limit of 1000 cubic meters per day..."

After more than three hours of testing, the five wells can produce 17 cubic meters of methane per day, and the pressure is so stable that there is basically no need for active pumping.

It only needs to inject certain genetically modified methanogens and growth hormones regularly, and the generation of methane will not stop until the organic matter of this piece of underground shale is consumed.

"Compared with the shale oil production technology in North America, the cost of biodegradation is much cheaper." Qi Yuanchao raised his glasses and sighed.

Other than initial exploration and drilling costs, pipelays and auxiliary equipment, the other costs of a well are minimal.

Qi Yuanchao calculated it in his heart, and found that the production cost of this gas well, if the current daily production can be maintained, the cost is about 3 to 5 dollars per thousand cubic meters.

This cost is already very low.

The cost of domestic coalbed methane production is about US$270-280 per thousand cubic meters; while domestic natural gas is about US$45 per thousand cubic meters.

The production cost of shale gas in North America is between US$70 and US$280 per thousand cubic meters; the production cost of shale oil is about US$30 per barrel.

The reason why such a low cost can be achieved is mainly due to the biological decomposition method of Homo Sapiens, which does not require the use of thermal fracturing with relatively high energy consumption.

Thermal fracturing requires not only high temperatures, but also special solvents, which need continuous input.

Although the biodegradable genetically modified methanogens and growth hormones also have a service life, it is a self-limitation specially set to prevent the genetically modified methanogens from escaping and multiplying in nature.

Normally, a portion of genetically modified methanogens and growth hormone can maintain activity for about 30 days.

After the well is dug, as long as genetically modified methanogens and growth hormones are used, methane can be produced continuously and at low cost.

In fact, this technology can also be used in the mining of highly viscous oil and coal, turning it into methane that will overflow by itself, which can effectively reduce production costs.

Moreover, the pollution is also very small. The improved version of genetically modified methane will completely consume all the organic matter in the reservoir, leaving no pollutants.

Of course, if this mining method is used in coal mines, it may cause large-scale landslides.

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(End of this chapter)