Drilling A Deep Well in Seven Days, Turning Egypt's Deserts into Fertile Farmland

An aerial drone photo taken on May 3, 2025 shows the farmland in the desert of New Valley Governorate, Egypt. (Photo by Hao Donglei/Xinhua)

With 96% of its territory covered by deserts, Egypt is facing a significant food security challenge. Responding to the Egyptian government's launch in 2015 of a desert reclamation project with an initial scope of 1.5 million feddans (about 630,000 hectares), Chinese company Zhongman Petroleum and Gas Group Co., Ltd. (ZPEC) undertook the task of drilling a series of deep wells in the Egyptian deserts. With an average completion speed of seven days for each of these wells, ZPEC has drilled nearly 1,000 desert wells across six Egypt's governorates over the past decade.

These sustained efforts have led to the establishment of a comprehensive water supply system, achieving an effective irrigation area of hundreds of thousands of hectares as well as food security for 3 million people annually. These days, an increasing number of wheat fields and vegetable gardens have emerged on what was once barren land. Egyptian media has hailed these accomplishments, expressing hope that the country may finally revert its present status as the largest wheat importer worldwide.

Photo shows well water freshly pumped at a construction site in the Sahara Desert. (Provided by ZPEC)

Key Challenges

The complex geology of Egyptian deserts creates challenges to large-bore drilling — namely, wellbore collapse and lost circulation. At the local level, there is a lack of appropriate drilling technologies, equipment and technical expertise, resulting in shallow wells with poor water quality and low yield that are insufficient to meet agricultural irrigation and domestic water needs. Furthermore, low efficiency in construction and rig relocation further hamper deep well drilling and large-scale land reclamation.

Solution Pathways

ZPEC has implemented solutions tailored to the geology of Egyptian deserts through the development of air foam drilling technology and the bold use of PDC (Polycrystalline Diamond Compact) drill bits. The resulting improvement in the viscosity of drilling fluid represents a solution to wellbore collapse and lost circulation. Nowadays, there is a network of 26-inch large-diameter wells reaching depths of over 350 meters, and the average water yield per well exceeds 500 cubic meters per hour while protecting the underground aquifer. Self-developed rapid-relocation drilling rigs can move between wells spaced 750 meters apart in just a few minutes, enabling 24-hour continuous operation.

Practical Benefits for Local Communities

By drilling nearly 1,000 deep wells in the desert, ZPEC has helped address drinking water shortage while transforming hundreds of thousands of hectares of desert into farmland. In 2025 alone, the 139,000 mu (about 9,267 hectares) of desert land in Minya Governorate produced 500,000 tonnes of sugar beet. The project has also provided free training in key drilling technologies, cultivating local expertise in drilling and agricultural irrigation while helping raise Egypt's national drilling standards. ZPEC has thus established a model combining water resource development, green irrigation, and local adaptation.

Photo shows wheat harvesting in the Sahara Desert. (Provided by the project team)