The selection results of the 2026 National May 1st Labor Awards, China May Fourth Youth Medal and Pioneer of Youth in the New Era Award were recently officially announced. Zhou Jie, a 2022 master’s graduate majoring in Oil and Gas Engineering from our university, has been awarded two top honors — the National May 1st Labor Medal and the Pioneer of Youth in the New Era Award. She has long dedicated herself to safeguarding national energy security with remarkable achievements, fulfilling her mission with youthful vigor, bringing honor to her alma mater and setting an inspiring role model for young students.
Zhou Jie, female, Han ethnicity, 35 years old, a member of the Communist Party of China, earned her master’s degree in Oil and Gas Engineering in 2022. She is a gold medalist of the National Vocational Skills Competition, an inheritor of the Yang Ling Gas Production Expert Studio under China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), and the youngest senior technician at Changqing OilfieldCompany. Currently, she serves as the team leader of Operation Team 1, Production Workshop 1, No.1 Purification Plant of the No.1 Gas Production Plant under Changqing Oilfield Company. She has previously received numerous accolades including the Shaanxi Provincial May 1st Labor Medal, Shaanxi Provincial Outstanding Young Professional, Gansu Provincial Technical Model, and one of the 13 Top Outstanding Young Employees of China National Petroleum Corporation. This year, she added the 2026 National May 1st Labor Medal and the Pioneer of Youth in the New Era Award to her list of honors.
Diligent Training and Persistent Pursuit: Claiming the National Competition Gold Medal
The No.1 Gas Production Plant is China’s first 10-billion-cubic-meter gas plant and a core force driving Changqing Oilfield’s 60-million-ton annual output target. As a core technical backbone of the plant, Zhou upholds the perseverance and grit of “striving for the best and aiming for the top”. In the 2021 National Natural Gas Purification Skills Competition, she claimed the gold medal. In the years since, she has devoted herself to mentoring new employees, cultivating 18 technicians and senior technicians for the plant. Her apprentices have won 16 medals in various skill contests, while she herself has secured 11 provincial and ministerial-level innovation achievements and published 12 professional academicarticles.
Innovation and Technical Breakthroughs: A Trailblazer for Intelligent Transformation
The No.1 Gas Production Plant is among the first pilot sites for digital and intelligent development at Changqing Oilfield. To realize the goal of “let data run more and staff travel less”, Zhou volunteered to lead 13 innovative projects, including the automatic start-stop system for transfer pumps, the construction of an intelligent operation platform, and the development of an integrated methanol injection linkage system. One of her inventions, the eddy current pressure relief pipe, delivered benefits worth 6 million yuan at a mere cost of 400yuan, greatly advancing digital empowerment, quality improvement and efficiency growth across Changqing Oilfield.
Uniting Efforts to Deliver National Gas Supply Security
The No.1 Gas Production Plant undertakes the vital task of supplying natural gas to Beijing and other major cities. For years, Zhou has stood at the frontline of winter gas supply assurance. Leading her team, she has tackled 35 key production bottlenecks such as low-temperature pipeline freezing and blockages, inefficient methanol injection, and mechanical pump malfunctions. Her innovative creations including the pipeline temperature gauge and methanol injection distributor have boosted annual gas output by 28 million cubic meters — enough to meet the heating demand of 300,000 households throughout the winter heating season. With concrete actions, she embodies the solemn commitment of all Changqing staff to “ensure safe and warm winters for the public”.
