Born in 1923 in Chijinbao, Yumen, Wang Jinxi entered the Yumen Oil Mine in 1950 after passing an operating test. He became captain of the Beiwu 5 team and led it to a national monthly drilling record of 5,009 metres in September 1958. When the team went to Daqing in 1960, it was renumbered 1205.
From the journal
Wang Jinxi and the first well drilled by Daqing’s 1205 team
From Yumen driller to leader of Daqing’s 1205 team, Wang Jinxi helped move a 60-tonne rig by hand and drove the crew through its first wells.
In the same city · Daqing ↗
A driller before Daqing
A rig carried to the site
The 1205 team arrived without the lifting equipment needed to move its rig to the worksite. The rig weighed more than 60 tonnes. Wang led over 30 workers in carrying its parts by hand for three days and nights. Five days later, the team completed its first Daqing well at 1,200 metres. The provincial heritage account identifies Sa-55 as the site of Wang’s first Daqing well; it is distinct from Songji No. 3, the oilfield discovery well.
Standards on the rig floor
At the team’s second well, a blowout began at a shallow gas layer. Wang entered the mud pit to mix clay into the water and raise the drilling mud’s density. He also led his crew to plug a well that exceeded its permitted deviation by only 0.6 degrees. Wang died in 1970, aged 47; his working life moved from Yumen drilling to the pressures of Daqing’s campaign.