Geological Characteristics and Challenges of Marine Shale Gas in the Southern Sichuan Basin
After more than 10 years of exploration, development, research, and practical efforts, China has opened up new perspectives for the commercial exploitation of marine shale gas. While high shale gas production is a main driver for energy security and economic development in China, there have been few...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-08-01
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| Series: | Energies |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/15/5796 |
| _version_ | 1827731237303746560 |
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| author | Shasha Sun Shiwei Huang Feng Cheng Wenhua Bai Zhaoyuan Shao |
| author_facet | Shasha Sun Shiwei Huang Feng Cheng Wenhua Bai Zhaoyuan Shao |
| author_sort | Shasha Sun |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | After more than 10 years of exploration, development, research, and practical efforts, China has opened up new perspectives for the commercial exploitation of marine shale gas. While high shale gas production is a main driver for energy security and economic development in China, there have been few attempts to systemically scientific analysis the challenges, prospect, development strategies, and goals for shale gas. Here, we present a detailed comparison of the differences in shale gas between the Sichuan Basin and North America from multiple dimensions, explain how and to what extent recent advances have been made, discuss the current challenges, and provide strategies to deal with these challenges. We demonstrate that a total of 13 graptolite zones developed in the Wufeng–Longmaxi Formations, achieved by representative cores from 32 coring wells and 7 outcrop profiles, can establish the chronostratigraphic framework in the Sichuan Basin, which leads to the potential impact of high-quality reservoir distribution and shale gas production. Shale gas is still faced with the challenges of complex underground and surface conditions, low single-well EUR, and immature deep development engineering technology. To circumvent these issues, here, we propose several strategies, including sweet-spot optimization, low-cost drilling techniques, and efficient fracturing technologies. Our results strengthen the importance of adopting fundamental theoretical research and practical and feasible development goals to realize more commercial discoveries of shale gas of diverse types and higher growth of shale gas reserves and production. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:27:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-a4ab03e317b94da084bf5cfb6fcb76bb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1996-1073 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T00:27:34Z |
| publishDate | 2023-08-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Energies |
| spelling | doaj.art-a4ab03e317b94da084bf5cfb6fcb76bb2023-11-18T22:52:56ZengMDPI AGEnergies1996-10732023-08-011615579610.3390/en16155796Geological Characteristics and Challenges of Marine Shale Gas in the Southern Sichuan BasinShasha Sun0Shiwei Huang1Feng Cheng2Wenhua Bai3Zhaoyuan Shao4PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Beijing 100083, ChinaExploration Division of PetroChina Daqing Oilfield Company, Daqing 163000, ChinaPetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Beijing 100083, ChinaPetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Beijing 100083, ChinaPetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, Beijing 100083, ChinaAfter more than 10 years of exploration, development, research, and practical efforts, China has opened up new perspectives for the commercial exploitation of marine shale gas. While high shale gas production is a main driver for energy security and economic development in China, there have been few attempts to systemically scientific analysis the challenges, prospect, development strategies, and goals for shale gas. Here, we present a detailed comparison of the differences in shale gas between the Sichuan Basin and North America from multiple dimensions, explain how and to what extent recent advances have been made, discuss the current challenges, and provide strategies to deal with these challenges. We demonstrate that a total of 13 graptolite zones developed in the Wufeng–Longmaxi Formations, achieved by representative cores from 32 coring wells and 7 outcrop profiles, can establish the chronostratigraphic framework in the Sichuan Basin, which leads to the potential impact of high-quality reservoir distribution and shale gas production. Shale gas is still faced with the challenges of complex underground and surface conditions, low single-well EUR, and immature deep development engineering technology. To circumvent these issues, here, we propose several strategies, including sweet-spot optimization, low-cost drilling techniques, and efficient fracturing technologies. Our results strengthen the importance of adopting fundamental theoretical research and practical and feasible development goals to realize more commercial discoveries of shale gas of diverse types and higher growth of shale gas reserves and production.https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/15/5796southern Sichuan BasinWufeng–Longmaxi Formationshale gasgraptolite |
| spellingShingle | Shasha Sun Shiwei Huang Feng Cheng Wenhua Bai Zhaoyuan Shao Geological Characteristics and Challenges of Marine Shale Gas in the Southern Sichuan Basin Energies southern Sichuan Basin Wufeng–Longmaxi Formation shale gas graptolite |
| title | Geological Characteristics and Challenges of Marine Shale Gas in the Southern Sichuan Basin |
| title_full | Geological Characteristics and Challenges of Marine Shale Gas in the Southern Sichuan Basin |
| title_fullStr | Geological Characteristics and Challenges of Marine Shale Gas in the Southern Sichuan Basin |
| title_full_unstemmed | Geological Characteristics and Challenges of Marine Shale Gas in the Southern Sichuan Basin |
| title_short | Geological Characteristics and Challenges of Marine Shale Gas in the Southern Sichuan Basin |
| title_sort | geological characteristics and challenges of marine shale gas in the southern sichuan basin |
| topic | southern Sichuan Basin Wufeng–Longmaxi Formation shale gas graptolite |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/15/5796 |
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