China Petroleum & Chemical (Sinopec) has discovered more than 140 million tonnes (mt) of proven geological reserves in the Shengli oilfield in east China’s Shandong province.
Of the total reserves found, 11.36mt are technically recoverable.
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This is the first shale oilfield in China with proven reserves exceeding 100mt that has been certificated by China’s Ministry of Natural Resources.
The Shengli oilfield employs automated drilling equipment that enhances extraction efficiency.
Innovations in horizontal well optimisation, fast drilling technology and dense cutting combined seam network volume fracturing technology have led to improvements in the field.
The average drilling cycle has been reduced from 133 days to just 29.5 days, with 6,000m wells now taking only 17.7 days.
These advancements have resulted in continuous new records for single-well production capacity.
Sinopec Shengli oilfield branch vice-president and chief geologist Liu Huimin said: “Through 150,000 times of indoor experiments, we developed the theory of shale oil enrichment in continental fault lake basins, reshaping the traditional common understanding that shale oil can only be enriched and mobilised when its maturity is higher than 0.9%.
“With the support of this theory, the amount of shale oil resources in Jiyang has tripled after re-evaluation.”
The oilfield has also overcome challenges like high temperature, pressure and leakage in shale oil development.
Through the advancement of reserve-fracture-pressure theories, the development of full-cycle 3D technologies and the establishment of an integrated geological engineering platform the field has expanded its shale oil development from three to seven layers.
Shengli Petroleum Administration Bureau assistant to president of Sinopec Group and managing director Sun Yongzhuang said: “After more than ten years of continuous research and innovative breakthroughs, Shengli oilfield is expected to add 80mt of proven reserves this year through the integrated promotion of exploration and development.”
Last October, Sinopec reported progress in the development of shale oil at its Jiyang pilot project in east China.
