Geologist Who Helped Discover Daqing Oilfield Dies at 93
Qiu Zhongjian, a renowned Chinese petroleum geologist and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) who played a pivotal role in the discovery of the Daqing Oilfield, has died at the age of 93, according to The Paper.
The CAE announced that Qiu passed away on September 17, 2026, a loss that removes one of the last surviving figures from the generation that ended China’s status as an oil-poor nation. He was one of the key scientists behind the 1959 Daqing find — a discovery that reshaped the country’s energy security and industrial trajectory for decades.
Breaking the ‘Oil-Poor’ Barrier
At the founding of the People’s Republic of China, national oil production stood at only about 120,000 tons annually, and the country relied heavily on imports. Under the classical petroleum geology theory of the time, oil was believed to form primarily in marine strata. Because China’s marine formations were deeply buried and tectonically disturbed, Western and Soviet experts concluded the country was fundamentally “oil-poor.”
Qiu’s career was defined by challenging that assumption. Born in Nanjing in 1933 to parents who had both studied in Japan, he entered Chongqing University’s petroleum geology program in 1950 after a “find oil for the motherland” recruitment poster captured his imagination, as recounted by The Paper. He graduated early in 1953 to meet urgent national demand for talent.
In 1957, at just 24, Qiu was appointed leader and geologist of the Songliao Plain Geological Special Research Team (Team 116), leading seven people into the Songliao Basin for the petroleum system’s first systematic geological survey of the region’s interior. His summary report concluded that the Songliao Basin was “a highly promising oil-bearing region” and urged increased exploration.
The Songji-3 Decision
The road to Daqing was not straightforward. After the first two benchmark wells failed to yield results in 1958, the location of the third — Songji-3 — became the subject of intense scientific debate. In early July, Qiu, along with colleagues Yang Jiliang and Zhong Qiquan, concluded the well should be placed on the Datongzhen electrical-survey uplift, opposing an alternative proposed by the Geology Ministry.
On November 29, 1958, the Petroleum Industry Ministry formally approved the Songji-3 location. On September 26, 1959 — days before the 10th National Day anniversary — the well erupted with flowing oil. The field was named “Daqing,” and the discovery broke the “China is oil-poor” theory.
“When we saw Songji-3 erupt, and it was flowing oil, our eyes filled with tears and we hugged each other in excitement,” Qiu recalled, according to Guangming Daily.
The discovery earned Qiu and his colleagues the National Natural Science Prize, First Class, in 1982 for their “Earth science work in the discovery of the Daqing Oilfield.”
From Shengli to the South China Sea
Qiu did not rest on the Daqing achievement. In 1964, at 31, he joined the Shengli Oilfield campaign in Dongying, Shandong, where he established the rigorous “iron pillar” geological data system spanning 25 categories and 135 items, and concluded that the Shengtuo field was a “two-storey” reservoir with separate upper and lower oil-water systems.
Returning from a May 7th Cadre School stint in 1972, he led the Bohai Bay Basin research group. In 1974 he first proposed the “complex oil-gas accumulation zone” theory — a core tenet of China’s continental petroleum geology that guided the discovery of numerous large and medium oil and gas fields. The work earned the National Science and Technology Progress Prize, Special Class, in 1985.
In 1982, Qiu became the first Chief Geologist of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), championing openness at a time when offshore cooperation with foreign firms was politically fraught. Some critics even accused such deals of being unpatriotic.
“A closed nation has no learning; independent innovation and open cooperation must complement each other,” Qiu argued, as quoted by The Paper. In 1984, companies from nine countries and 28 oil firms won the first offshore bidding round. Applying foreign resource-evaluation methods to the Pearl River Mouth Basin and Liaodong Bay, Qiu helped lead the discoveries of the Liuhua, Huizhou, Suizhong 36-1, and Jinzhou fields.
The Tarim Campaign
In 1989, at 56, Qiu took charge of the Tarim Petroleum Campaign as commander and Party working committee secretary — a role he held for a decade in the Taklamakan Desert, known as the “sea of death.”
“This was the most challenging experience of my life,” he said, according to Guangming Daily. Facing deep wells and forbidding terrain, he promoted a “new systems, new technology, high level, high efficiency” approach.
After several failed deep wells in the Kuqa Depression — described as “the forbidden zone within forbidden zones” — Qiu insisted on deploying three exploration wells at once despite mounting pressure, calling the period “the darkness before dawn.” His persistence paid off. On September 17, 1998, the Kela-2 well erupted with high-yield natural gas, revealing the large Kela-2 gas field.
Qiu composed a poem on the spot: “A rainbow roars across the sky, Kela dances dazzling the heavens. In a snap of fingers, ten years of searching in vain — the West-East gas delivery welcomes the spring breeze!”
The Kela-2 discovery provided the resource foundation for the West-East Gas Pipeline, a massive national infrastructure project benefiting more than 80 large and medium cities and over 200 million people. The achievement won the National Science and Technology Progress Prize, First Class, in 2001.
Between 1989 and 1999, 11 large and medium oil and gas fields were proven in Tarim, with cumulative crude output exceeding 23 million tons. Qiu also coordinated construction of the 522-kilometer Tarim Desert Highway, completed in just two years — the world’s longest graded highway crossing a flowing desert.
A Strategist for China’s Energy Future
Elected a CAE academician in 1999, Qiu became director of the CNPC Consulting Center and remained active in national energy strategy. In 2003, as deputy group leader under academician Hou Xianglin, he helped complete the “China Sustainable Oil and Gas Resource Strategy Research.”
He later argued that nuclear power, natural gas, and hydropower would become three pillar industries — the “three carriages” — each comprising roughly 10 percent of energy consumption, lowering coal’s share from about 70 percent to 50 percent. In 2011, he led research on China’s shale gas and tight gas potential, recommending a 20-year development roadmap.
“You won’t see much that stands out about me. My life can be summed up in two words: finding oil; in three words: finding oil and gas,” Qiu said of himself, according to the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
A Final Honor
By 2026, Qiu was hospitalized, but recognition of his lifetime of work continued. On July 9, he received the 16th Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Achievement Award, the top individual honor of the Guanghua prizes.
On July 22, CAE President Zhang Yuzhuo visited Qiu in his hospital ward to personally present the medal and certificate, praising his “loyalty to the Party, dedication, and commitment to nurturing younger scholars,” according to the CAE. Qiu expressed that he would continue contributing to the nation’s oil and gas exploration after recovery. He died two months later.
What’s Next
Qiu’s death closes a chapter in the history of China’s petroleum industry, but his influence endures in the fields he helped discover and the theories he pioneered. The West-East Gas Pipeline continues to supply energy to hundreds of millions, and his “complex oil-gas accumulation” framework remains a cornerstone of Chinese exploration.
His own words perhaps best capture the legacy: “If I had another life, I would still choose this path of finding oil — never any regret.”
Note: Some sources differ on details of Qiu’s birth and death dates. Mainstream Chinese coverage, citing the CAE announcement, reports his death as September 17, 2026, and his birth in 1933.