China Shale News Review – Mar. 1 , 2025
◊ Successful High-Pressure Fracturing of China’s Deep Shale Gas Well
On February 20, the Zhongyuan Oilfield successfully completed a high-pressure fracturing operation on the Tiebei 1HF well in the Sichuan Basin, marking a milestone as the oilfield’s first ultra-deep shale gas horizontal well. Drilled to 6,898 meters deep, this well is currently the deepest marine shale gas well in China. The fracturing process utilized a 175 MPa ultra-high pressure equipment, overcoming numerous challenges such as deep burial, high stress, and small casing sizes. This breakthrough lays the foundation for efficient exploration of deep marine shale gas in the region and provides valuable experience for future high-pressure fracturing operations.
◊ Deep underground drilling of well 1 in Tago has been successfully completed at a depth of 10910 meters
On February 20, it was announced at a press conference by China National Petroleum Corporation that China’s first over 10000 meter deep exploration well, Deepwell 1, was successfully drilled at an underground depth of 10910 meters, becoming the first vertical deep well in Asia and the second in the world. It has successively set five engineering records, including the world’s deepest tail pipe cementing, the world’s deepest cable imaging logging, the world’s fastest onshore drilling breakthrough of over 10000 meters, the Asia’s deepest vertical well drilling, and the Asia’s deepest onshore coring. This is another significant progress made by China in the field of “deep earth” after “deep space” and “deep sea”.
◊ Major Breakthrough in Natural Gas Exploration and Development by Yanchang Petroleum
On February 22, Yanchang Petroleum’s scientific achievement in the exploration and efficient development of the Yanan trillion-cubic-meter tight gas field was recognized as internationally advanced by a committee of experts led by Chinese Academy of Engineering’s Luo Pingya. The discovery, made after over 50 years of exploration, broke the traditional “south oil, north gas” pattern in the Ordos Basin, leading to a historic breakthrough in the southern region. With proven gas reserves of 1.3 trillion cubic meters, the Yanan field has significantly contributed to national energy security and regional economic development.
◊ Xinjiang Oil and Gas New Area has achieved satisfactory results in oil and gas geophysical exploration
Recently, good news came from the Tarim Basin that the “3D seismic exploration data acquisition project in the west of Ruoqiang, Tarim Basin” implemented by Sinopec Northwest Oilfield Branch was completed, creating two records of Sinopec’s most difficult geophysical exploration in the desert and the shortest duration of seismic acquisition.
◊ Newly discovered 10 billion ton oil fields
According to the China Geological Survey of the Ministry of Natural Resources, the new round of breakthrough strategic actions for mineral exploration in China has achieved remarkable results – the discovery of 10 billion ton oil fields and 19 billion cubic meter gas fields; Discovered 10 or more large uranium deposits, resulting in a significant increase in uranium resources; The reserves of 12 mineral resources, including copper, gold, gallium, germanium, and indium, have significantly increased; Significant breakthroughs have been made in mineral resources related to strategic emerging industries such as lithium, zirconium, hafnium, helium, and rare earths.
(Source: Energy China Forum)
