--> ABSTRACT: Assessment of Undiscovered Continuous Gas Resources in the Eastern Uplift of the Liaohe Basin, Northeast China, by Pollastro, Richard M.; Potter, Christopher J.; Charpentier, Ronald R.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Cook, Troy A.; Klett, Timothy R.; Kirschbaum, Mark A.; #90155 (2012)

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Assessment of Undiscovered Continuous Gas Resources in the Eastern Uplift of the Liaohe Basin, Northeast China

Pollastro, Richard M.; Potter, Christopher J.; Charpentier, Ronald R.; Schenk, Christopher J.; Cook, Troy A.; Klett, Timothy R.; Kirschbaum, Mark A.
United States Geological Survey, Denver, CO.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently assessed undiscovered continuous gas resources in the eastern uplift of the Liaohe Basin, northeast China. One total petroleum system (TPS), the Eastern Liaohe Uplift Permian-Carboniferous TPS, and one assessment unit (AU), the Shanxi-Taiyuan Continuous Gas AU, were defined on the basis of geology, and then were mapped using a geologic information system. The assessment, carried out independently by the USGS, is part of a cooperative effort with Liaohe Oil Field Company of PetroChina, through agreements with the U.S. Department of State.

The assessed stratigraphic units, the Carboniferous Taiyuan and Permian Shanxi Formations, comprise a paralic succession of sandstone, siltstone, carbonaceous mudstone, and coal deposited in a range of environments at or near sea level. These include fluvial-alluvial coastal plain systems, delta plain and delta front systems, marginal marine settings (lagoons, bays, and tidal flats), and shoreface-shelf systems with barrier bars and islands. Equivalent Carboniferous and Permian formations in China's Ordos Basin, 1,200 to 1,400 km to the southwest of the study area, produce gas in giant fields from tight sandstone reservoirs that are sourced from interbedded coal and carbonaceous shale.

The Shanxi-Taiyuan Continuous Gas AU was assessed using a geologic model wherein commingled deep coalbed gas and tight gas, sourced from the coals, would be produced from coal beds and low-permeability sandstones in the Carboniferous-Permian section. Two proven unconventional gas resource plays were used as analogs: (1) the upper Paleozoic Hartshorne coal, Arkoma Basin, Oklahoma U.S.A.; and (2) the giant Sulige field in the Ordos Basin, China, which produces partially from tight-gas sandstones, and has potential for significantly more tight-gas-sandstone production.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90155©2012 AAPG International Conference & Exhibition, Singapore, 16-19 September 2012