Sinopec Acquires Trillion Cubic Meters of Shale Gas Resources in Southwestern Sichuan, China

China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (HKG: 0386, “Sinopec”) has reported that it has achieved a daily production capacity of 530,000 cubic meters of shale gas on June 30 in its Xinye Well-1 in Qijiang, Chongqing, confirming the 100 billion cubic meters of shale gas reserves in its Xinchang shale gas structure.

As of now, Sinopec has established the shale gas resource belt of “Xinchang South – Dongxi – Dingshan – Lintanchang” (the “Belt”) in the southeastern Sichuan Basin, with overall shale gas resource volume reaching 1.19305 trillion cubic meters, the second trillion-level shale gas reserve of Sinopec following its Fuling shale gas field that will contribute to ensure China’s energy security.

The Xinye Well-1 has a depth of 5,756 meters, and the structure belt has a large favorable area and resources of shale gas, making it a key area for Sinopec’s strategic exploration and production of shale gas. The average well depth of the Belt is over 3,500 meters, among which the deepest drilled Dingye Well-8’s shale gas layer has a depth of 4,614 meters.

The challenges of developing deep deposits include complex ground stress and deep burial depth. Sinopec attaches great importance to exploring deep shale gas and innovated theories and technologies including fracturing for deep shale gas wells as well as achieving domestic production of fracturing equipment, tools and materials. Sinopec has realized 100 percent drilling ration of high-quality shale.

In 2017, Sinopec established a deep shale gas R&D team to pilot researches in Dongxi. After years of comprehensive research and practices, Sinopec has built up the theoretical understanding of deep shale gas geology and successfully unveiled the development and maintaining mechanism of deep shale holes in deep-water shelf-bathyal facies.

In addition, Sinopec also proposed deep shale gas layer sweet spot prediction technology that has achieved high-precision exploration, and developed deep shale gas fracturing engineering technology that effectively addresses problems of burial depth and plasticity, as well as high in-situ stress, to achieve three-dimensional network fracturing technology that can ensure precision cutting, pressurization, and proliferation, as well as balanced expansion and filling.

Next, Sinopec will strengthen the precise evaluation of the Xinchang gas field and elevate the overall evaluation and deployment of the Belt shale gas resources in southeastern Sichuan, thriving to achieve continuous exploration breakthroughs.

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Source SINOPEC