Chian's Shale Gas: The Developing Unconventional Play

Abstract

Chian's shale gas: the developing unconventional play Zhou Qingfan, Yang Guofeng, Lu Xuemei, Dong Li Exploration and Production Research Institute, Sinopec, Beijing, China The petroleum geological investigation and conventional oil and gas exploration practices reveal that China has three types of shale gas plays spanning from Paleozoic to Cenozoic in terms of shale depositional settings. Paleozoic marine shale plays, which are the most prospective plays, are characterized by thick single layers, high TOC, high thermal maturity, rich brittle minerals. Carboniferous-Permian transitional facies shale plays are of large overall thickness, thin single layer, high TOC, medium brittleness. Mesozoic-Cenozoic lacustrine shale plays are large overall thickness, high TOC, low thermal maturity, clay-rich, and less brittle. Some Chinese and foreign institutes made many assessments of China's shale gas resources. Although their estimates are different, these assessments indicate China has rich shale gas resources and vast potential for shale gas development. Based on MLR national assessment, China has 25.08 tcm of technically recoverable resources. China shale gas is mainly distributed in Sichuan, Ordos, Tarim, Junggar, Qaidam, Songliao, Bohai Bay basins. Encouraged by the successful development of shale gas resources in the U. S., China began its shale gas research and exploration activities about 10 years ago. Before 2009, China did a lot of preparation for shale gas exploration. The main activities are to learn U. S. experiences, to conduct preliminary shale gas resource assessment, to define the prospective areas and to study exploration and production technologies. Since 2009, China started shale gas exploration practices. The activities in this phase include drilling, fracturing test and pilot production. China has made many progresses and breakthroughs in shale gas exploration and development. The first shale gas field (Fuling shale gas field) had been discovered by Sinopec in Sichuan Basin, it will help China realize commercial production of shale gas soon. China will enter into a new stage of shale gas exploration and increase quickly shale gas production. However, China is still in its infancy of shale gas exploration and faces many challenges including uncertainty in shale gas resources, complicated geological conditions, technology bottlenecks, weak infrastructures, and inadequate policy and regulation support.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90217 © 2015 International Conference & Exhibition, Melbourne, Australia, September 13-16, 2015