In fact, China has such a city, which is not inferior to Dubai at all. The proven oil reserves are as high as 7.88 billion tons. How much is this reserve? This total directly accounts for 1/5 of our whole country, which is enough for our country to use for ten years. So can this city be the next Dubai?
In March 2022, an important energy exploration achievement caused quite a stir in the society. After a period of exploration and excavation, a super-large oil field was discovered in Gansu Province, China. According to the preliminary judgment of relevant experts. The reserves of this oil field have reached more than 4 billion tons. Later, with the continuous exploration of the staff, the actual reserve data of the oilfield is still constantly updated and rising. The latest data shows that it has reached more than 7.8 billion tons. If this oilfield is well developed and utilized, it will not only bring earth-shaking changes to the local economy, but also become the second Dubai.
This city is Qingyang City, Gansu Province. Many people have never heard of the name Qingyang, but they are familiar with Gansu Province, which is located on the Loess Plateau and inconspicuous on the map. In fact, the Loess Plateau is not just loess. After thousands of years of accumulation, there are abundant resources under the loess. There are a lot of coal and oil in the Loess Plateau, and Qingyang itself is in the hinterland of the Loess Plateau. According to professional exploration and evaluation, the oil reserves of Qingyang Oilfield are as high as 7.88 billion tons. Everyone's concept of this number may not be very intuitive, and they can only imagine a lot of oil. In order to enrich everyone's imagination, many netizens have made appropriate comparisons. This more than 7 billion tons of oil is about 57.5 billion barrels. So many barrels of oil, if one person counts them, I'm afraid it's hard to count them all in my life. Such huge oil reserves directly make it the largest oil field in the world. In addition to oil resources, many natural gas resources have been discovered in Qingyang area, and these natural gas resources are also hundreds of millions.
Many people think Qingyang must be very developed when they see so much energy. In fact, Qingyang, as a prefecture-level city in Gansu Province, is not only remote, but also has a very general economic development. The main economic source of this city is cultivated land. Before the discovery of oil fields, Qingyang had made good achievements in agricultural planting relying on its rich land resources and local climate and precipitation. Agricultural development is deeply rooted in this city, but it always lacks some vitality by relying solely on agricultural names. The bottleneck of Qingyang is obvious, that is, the economic industry is single. However, with the discovery of this super-large oil field, Qingyang can make a turnaround with oil, and the subsequent economic development has also made many people optimistic.
The oil field was discovered, but the subsequent oil exploitation faced an embarrassing problem. In the face of Qingyang Oilfield's nearly 8 billion reserves, many people rejoice. With the existing mining technology in China, mining is a piece of cake, but the cost is silent. The exploitation cost of oil fields in China has been very high, sometimes even exceeding the cost of oil itself, which also makes many experts have a headache. If a technology is not well controlled. It will directly affect the future development, and oil is no exception. At present, the cost of extracting a barrel of oil in China is about $50. If it is extracted offshore, the cost will increase by 10. Let's compare international oil prices. Many times the international oil price is 50 to 60 dollars a barrel, and the cost is equal to the selling price. So why is the cost of mining abroad so low? For the oil-rich countries in the Middle East, the cost of exploitation is between three and five dollars. This is mainly because the geological conditions abroad are different from those in China. The Middle East and the United States are mostly marine sediments, while China is mostly continental sediments. For example, their oil fields are like a bottle of soda, which can be sprayed out by itself with a slight twist, while China's oil fields are like biscuits broken into slag, missing a piece. Although it is not the worst in the world, it is also a very difficult model.
China is short of oil and has a long history. The traditional petroleum geology theory holds that oil is only generated by marine organisms, which is also the theory of marine oil generation. 19 13, Mobil oil company organized an investigation team to explore in Shandong, Shaanxi, Henan, Hebei, Gansu, Northeast China and Inner Mongolia in China, and the investigation results were nothing. Therefore, some experts and professors in the United States have come to the conclusion that we have no central ecological marine sediments. In other words, because most of China's geological features are continental, everyone thinks it is impossible to produce oil.
But China geologists and oil exploration experts don't believe this evil. Therefore, the discovery of 1959 Daqing Oilfield is a moment that can go down in history. Everyone's joy and excitement are beyond words, which indicates that China at that time could begin to achieve basic self-sufficiency in oil. In short, people at that time wanted to throw the oil-poor hat into the Pacific Ocean.
The rapid development of China is highly dependent on oil. Looking at the food, clothing, housing and transportation around us, modern life is inseparable from oil and its by-products. But it is followed by a dilemma. On the one hand, the reserves are not high, on the other hand, it consumes a lot, and the energy crisis makes us dare not take it lightly. Now the discovery of Qingyang Oilfield also gives us a certain say in energy as a big oil user.
Let's take a look at the successful experience of Dubai and Qingyang. Dubai, facing the Persian Gulf, gives people a very gorgeous feeling. We often see modern high-rise buildings on mobile phones. All kinds of strange buildings are amazing and the people are rich. It may be the poor who drive hard. These Dubai people usually keep tigers at home, and even if they are beggars, they may earn tens of thousands of yuan a month. The most populous city in the United Arab Emirates is located in the middle of the Middle East, built in the desert. In the early development of Dubai, oil exploitation and sales played a key role. But later, Dubai gradually carried out its own economic transformation, from relying on oil to becoming an important tourist city in the world, the trade capital and financial center in the Middle East. It can be said that Dubai's strength no longer depends on oil, and now the oil industry accounts for less than 5% of Dubai's GDP. The traditional impression that Dubai makes money by oil has gradually drifted away. Facing the sea, there is coastal trade, and it is located in the middle of the Middle East, which is a convenient maritime transportation hub. These are the disadvantages that Qingyang does not have.
However, if Qingyang develops tourism, it may not be worse than Dubai. It is located in one of the best scenic spots on the Loess Plateau and has a long history. Qingyang is fully capable of developing tourism, but it still needs the overall planning and hard work of relevant departments. As a resource-based city, how to make good use of the resources in hand to develop different types of economy is very important for Qingyang, a young resource-based city. We all know that there are many resource-based cities in Northeast China, such as Daqing Oilfield, Anshan Iron and Steel, Fushun Coal Mine and Fuxin Coal Mine. These cities used to be very brilliant, and some of them were municipalities directly under the Central Government in the 1950s. However, due to the ineffective economic transformation, some cities have become resource-exhausted cities, such as Fushun and Fuxin, and some industries are relatively simple, and even face the situation of living in open space, such as Daqing and Anshan. Qingyang must rationally plan its oil and coal resources and exploit them in a planned way, but reasonably arrange alternative industries, so as to realize sustainable development.
In addition, as a strategic resource of the country, oil will not be exploited in large quantities. For example, the United States has large oil fields and iron ore reserves. Don't plan ahead. Qingyang's 7.88 billion tons oil field is also a valuable resource in China, which will be rationally utilized. Qingyang may still have a long way to go before it becomes the next Dubai.