New Horizons and Technology for the Petroleum Exploration in China

Chengzao Jia
PetroChina Company Limited, Beijing, China

China, located in the eastern Euroasian plate, consists of small cratons and orogenic belts. Following successive tectonic movements including the latest Himalayan orogeny, many types of sedimentary basins have been developed including cratonic superimposed basins, rifted basins and residual basins among others. These basins are characterized by small cratons, large orogenic belts and strong heterogeneity. The total recoverable petroleum resources in China are estimated to be 25.5 billion tons of oil and 27 tcm of gas, of which 7.4 billion tons of oil and 3.4 tcm of gas are proven reserves. The cumulative oil and gas productions in China stand for 18.1 billion tons and 24 tcm respectively. As the proven reserve/resource rate is relatively low, giant oil and gas fields remain to be discovered, in six different categories of targets: litho-stratigraphic traps, subtle traps in mature basins, foreland basins, deep marine carbonates and volcanic rocks in superimposed basins, frontier subaerial basins and offshore region. Unconventional resources such as coalbed methane, oil sands and oil shales remain to be explored and utilized. New petroleum play concepts, improved exploration and engineering technologies, and the integration of people, technology and business approaches have contributed greatly to the exploration successes in many of the sedimentary basins in China.