Geology, resource potentials, and properties of emerging and potential China shale gas and shale oil plays

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. SJ1-SJ13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shu Jiang ◽  
Jinchuan Zhang ◽  
Zhiqiang Jiang ◽  
Zhengyu Xu ◽  
Dongsheng Cai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South China ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Shale Oil ◽  
Yangtze Platform ◽  
Lower Paleozoic ◽  
High Maturity ◽  
Shale Reservoirs ◽  
Gas Potential

This paper describes the geology of organic-rich shales in China, their resource potentials, and properties of emerging and potential China shale gas and shale oil plays. Marine, lacustrine, and coastal swamp transitional shales were estimated to have the largest technically recoverable shale gas resource (25.08 trillion cubic meters or 886 trillion cubic feet) and 25 to 50 billion barrels of technically recoverable shale oil resource. The Precambrian Sinian Doushantuo Formation to Silurian Longmaxi black marine shales mainly accumulated in the intrashelf low to slope environments in the Yangtze Platform in South China and in the Tarim Platform in northwest China. The marine shales in the Yangtze Platform have high maturity (Ro of 1.3%–5%), high total organic carbon (mainly [Formula: see text]), high brittle-mineral content, and have been identified as emerging shale gas plays. The Lower Paleozoic marine shales in the Upper Yangtze area have the largest shale gas potential and currently top the list as exploration targets. The Carboniferous to Permian shales associated with coal and sandstones were mainly formed in transitional depositional settings in north China, northwest China, and the Yangtze Platform in south China. These transitional shales are generally rich in clay with a medium level of shale gas potential. The Middle Permian to Cenozoic organic-rich lacustrine shales interbedded with thin sandstone and carbonate beds are sporadically distributed in rifted basins across China. Their main potentials are as hybrid plays (tight and shale oil). China shales are heterogeneous across time and space, and high-quality shale reservoirs are usually positioned within transgressive systems tract to early highstand systems tract intervals that were deposited in an anoxic depositional setting. For China’s shale plays, tectonic movements have affected and disrupted the early oil and gas accumulation, making tectonically stable areas more favorable prospects for the exploration and development of shale plays.

Shale gas potential of the major marine shale formations in the Upper Yangtze Platform, South China, Part II: Methane sorption capacity

Fuel ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 129 ◽  
pp. 204-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingqiang Tan ◽  
Philipp Weniger ◽  
Bernhard Krooss ◽  
Alexej Merkel ◽  
Brian Horsfield ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sorption Capacity ◽  
South China ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Yangtze Platform ◽  
Shale Formations ◽  
Marine Shale ◽  
Methane Sorption ◽  
Gas Potential

Ediacaran, Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian and Permian shales of the Upper Yangtze Platform, South China: Deposition, thermal maturity and shale gas potential

2019 ◽  
Vol 216 ◽  
pp. 103281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qian Zhang ◽  
Ralf Littke ◽  
Laura Zieger ◽  
Mohammadebrahim Shabani ◽  
Xuan Tang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South China ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Thermal Maturity ◽  
Yangtze Platform ◽  
Gas Potential

Shale Gas Potential of the Major Marine Shale Formations in the Upper Yangtze Platform, South China, Part III: Mineralogical, Lithofacial, Petrophysical, and Rock Mechanical Properties

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 2322-2342 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingqiang Tan ◽  
Brian Horsfield ◽  
Reinhard Fink ◽  
Bernhard Krooss ◽  
Hans-Martin Schulz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mechanical Properties ◽  
South China ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Yangtze Platform ◽  
Shale Formations ◽  
Marine Shale ◽  
Rock Mechanical Properties ◽  
Gas Potential

scholarly journals Characteristics of pore structures from the Lower Paleozoic shale gas reservoirs in northern Guizhou, South China

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 241-253
Author(s):  
Xianqing Li ◽  
Yangyang Li ◽  
Jiehao Li ◽  
Xiaoyan Zou ◽  
Man Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South China ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Gas Reservoirs ◽  
Lower Paleozoic ◽  
Pore Structures ◽  
Shale Gas Reservoirs

Evaluation of Lower Cambrian Shale in Northern Guizhou Province, South China: Implications for Shale Gas Potential

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 2933-2941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuangbiao Han ◽  
Jinchuan Zhang ◽  
Yuxi Li ◽  
Brian Horsfield ◽  
Xuan Tang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South China ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Lower Cambrian ◽  
Guizhou Province ◽  
Gas Potential

An emerging shale gas play in the Northern Territory

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 672
Author(s):  
Ray Johnson ◽  
Geoff Hokin ◽  
David Warner ◽  
Rod Dawney ◽  
Mike Dix ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Shale Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Mineral Exploration ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Gas Flows ◽  
Oil And Gas Resources ◽  
Unconventional Oil And Gas ◽  
Shale Reservoirs ◽  
Drill Holes ◽  
Live Oil

As attention to unconventional oil and gas resources increases, historical oil and gas flows in shale reservoirs across the world are being given renewed attention. Such is the case of the shaly and carbonate deposits of the McArthur and Nathan groups in the Northern Territory. The Batten Trough is a Proterozoic depocenter with potential for a shale gas play in the Barney Creek Shale and potential for conventional gas accumulations in the underlying Coxco Dolomite. This Barney Creek Shale gas play is evidenced by a number of mineral exploration drill holes that encountered live oil and gas shows within the McArthur Group. The most prominent was a mineral exploration hole drilled at the Glyde River prospect by Amoco in 1979. This well reportedly flowed gas and condensates at 140 psi for six months before it was sealed at the surface, which certainly shows permeability values greater than micro-darcies reported for many North American shale plays; thus, an exploration program of this prospective area has been planned by Armour Energy in EP 171 on several targets adjacent to the Emu Fault Zone near both Glyde and Caranbirini, along with other anticline related targets adjacent to the Abner Range. This extended abstract details how the targets were identified, the plan for data acquisition (e.g. seismic, drilling, logging and testing), and the proposed completion strategy to test this highly prospective target.

Petroleum generation and expulsion characteristics of Lower and Middle Jurassic source rocks on the southern margin of Junggar Basin, northwest China: implications for unconventional gas potential

2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (6) ◽  
pp. 537-557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jigang Guo ◽  
Xiongqi Pang ◽  
Fengtao Guo ◽  
Xulong Wang ◽  
Caifu Xiang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Source Rock ◽  
Shale Gas ◽  
Middle Jurassic ◽  
Junggar Basin ◽  
Northwest China ◽  
Source Rocks ◽  
Coal Bed ◽  
Southern Margin ◽  
Petroleum Generation ◽  
Gas Potential

Jurassic strata along the southern margin of Junggar Basin are important petroleum system elements for exploration in northwest China. The Lower and Middle Jurassic source rock effectiveness has been questioned as exploration progresses deeper into the basin. These source rocks are very thick and are distributed widely. They contain a high total organic carbon composed predominantly of Type III kerogen, with some Type II kerogen. Our evaluation of source rock petroleum generation characteristics and expulsion history, including one-dimensional basin modeling, indicates that Jurassic source rocks are gas prone at deeper depths. They reached peak oil generation during the Early Cretaceous and began to generate gas in the Late Cretaceous. Gas generation peaked in the Paleogene–Neogene. Source rock shales and coals reached petroleum expulsion thresholds at thermal maturities of 0.8% and 0.75% vitrinite reflectance, respectively, when the petroleum expulsion efficiency was ∼40%. The petroleum generated and expelled from these source rocks are 3788.75 × 108 and 1507.55 × 108 t, respectively, with a residual 2281.20 × 108 t retained in the source rocks. In these tight reservoirs, a favorable stratigraphic relationship (where tight sandstone reservoirs directly overlie the source rocks) indicates short vertical and horizontal migration distances. This indicates the potential for a large, continuous, tight-sand gas resource in the Lower and Middle Jurassic strata. The in-place natural gas resources in the Jurassic reservoirs are up to 5.68 × 1012 − 15.14 × 1012 m3. Jurassic Badaowan and Xishanyao coals have geological characteristics that are favorable for coal-bed methane resources, which have an in-place resource potential between 3.60 × 1012 and 11.67 × 1012 m3. These Lower and Middle Jurassic strata have good shale gas potential compared with active US shale gas, and the inferred in-place shale gas resources in Junggar Basin are between 20.73 × 1012 and 113.89 × 1012 m3. This rich inferred conventional and unconventional petroleum resource in tight-sand, coal-bed, and shale gas reservoirs makes the deeper Jurassic strata along the southern margin of Junggar Basin a prospective target for future exploration.

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