On November 24, 2022, Jiandao reporter learned from the Press Office of SINOPEC that SINOPEC's "Deep Earth Project · Sichuan-Chongqing Natural Gas Base" made another major breakthrough. The first proved geological reserves of the Qijiang shale gas field submitted by Sinopec Exploration Branch and Southwest Petroleum Bureau passed the approval of the expert group of the Ministry of Natural Resources. It marks the birth of another large integrated shale gas field of over 100 billion cubic meters in China.

Qijiang shale gas field Dingye 4 well large-scale fracturing construction site

The Qijiang shale gas field is located in Qijiang District of Chongqing Municipality and Xishui County of Guizhou Province. It is located in the complex structural area of the southeastern basin of Sichuan Basin. It is transformed by strong tectonic movement and has the characteristics of "double complexity" on the surface and underground.

In August 2017, the Dingye 4 well in the Qijiang shale gas field achieved 205,000 cubic meters of shale gas per day

It is reported that this gas field is the first large middle-deep shale gas field found in the complex tectonic area of basin margin in China. In general, shale gas buried more than 3,500 meters is defined as deep shale gas. The overlying strata of deep shale gas are complicated, and there are many world-class problems such as large shale burial depth, variable in-situ stress, etc., which require high technology and make exploration and development difficult. If shallow shale gas development is the expansion of the "winding road" into a "highway", then deep shale gas development is the construction of mountains and Bridges on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, the construction of complicated "winding road", exploration and development is very difficult.

Large-scale fracturing site of Dingye 7 well in Qijiang shale Gas field

Over the years, Sinopec has made continuous efforts in deep earth oil and gas research, exploration and development. In August 2022, the company was the first to release the "deep Earth Project" results report, "deep Earth project" technology is considered by the industry as a "major tool" in deep oil and gas exploration and development, with broad prospects. In the field of deep shale gas, Sinopec has 6.3 trillion cubic meters of deep shale gas resources in the mineral rights area of Sichuan Basin, which is an important field for increasing shale gas storage and production in the future. Editor/He Yuting