Earth's Crust 1 made China the third country to successfully develop the 10,000-meter drilling rig in the world after the deepest borehole to be drilled for scientific purposes by Asians was completed in Anda, Heilongjiang province on May 26.[Photo by Wang Wei/for chinadaily.com.cn]

Earth's Crust 1 made China the third country to successfully develop the 10,000-meter drilling rig in the world after the deepest borehole to be drilled for scientific purposes by Asians was completed in Anda, Heilongjiang province on May 26.

The project, Songke 2, reached a depth of 7,018 meters.

Earth's Crust 1 made China the third country to successfully develop the 10,000-meter drilling rig in the world after the deepest borehole to be drilled for scientific purposes by Asians was completed in Anda, Heilongjiang province on May 26.[Photo by Xu Lihua/for chinadaily.com.cn]

"Earth's Crust 1 has a low failure rate of 2.5 percent and the highest it dug was 286 meters a day," said Sun Youhong, R & D director, deputy headmaster of Jilin University. "All these achievements fully reflect the capability of China in independent research and development of drilling rigs."

The researchers from Jilin University also solved the challenges of having extreme temperature within the deep earth and taking rock samples from complex environment.

Earth's Crust 1 made China the third country to successfully develop the 10,000-meter drilling rig in the world after the deepest borehole to be drilled for scientific purposes by Asians was completed in Anda, Heilongjiang province on May 26.[Photo by Xu Lihua/for chinadaily.com.cn]

The borehole is located in the Songliao Basin, one of the largest continental sedimentary basins in the world. It holds China's most important reserves of oil and natural gas.

"The success of the project will provide key technologies and equipment for exploration and experimental research deep within the earth," said Cheng Qiuming, secretary-general of the International Union of Geological Sciences. "It will also open a new space for clean energy prospecting in Songliao Basin."

Workers stand in front of Songke 2, the deepest borehole ever drilled for scientific purposes by Asians, in Anda, Heilongjiang province on Saturday. [Photo by Xu Lihua/for chinadaily.com.cn]