Record Break! Shale Gas Becomes an Important New Area for Increasing Oil and Gas Production in Our Country
Release Time:
2025-07-08
Over 5300 meters, China sets a new depth record for shale gas wells
CCTV News: Over 5300 meters, China sets new record for shale gas well vertical depth
On the 13th, a reporter learned from Sinopec that a shale gas exploration well located in the Sichuan Basin has a vertical depth exceeding 5300 meters. This depth sets a new record for shale gas well vertical depth in China.
The vertical depth of a shale gas well refers to the depth from the wellhead to the bottom of the well in the vertical direction. Through vertical depth data, engineers can determine the location and thickness of the shale gas reservoir, thereby evaluating the reserves and recoverability of shale gas.
The Puguang Gas Field's Tiebei 1 horizontal exploration well, which set the new depth record, is located in the Puguang area of the Sichuan Basin. The well tested a daily natural gas production of 314,500 cubic meters. The Puguang area where the well is located is rich in shale gas resources, but most of the resources are distributed in ultra-deep zones with burial depths exceeding 4500 meters. Facing challenges such as high formation pressure, large stress differences, and numerous limestone interlayers in the ultra-deep shale gas reservoirs, the research team innovated processing technologies, making the drilling precision comparable to "threading a needle thousands of meters underground." At the same time, they used independently developed 175 MPa ultra-high-pressure fracturing equipment to create a complex network of oil and gas transportation channels in the high-pressure formation at 5300 meters underground.
Peng Jun, Chief Expert of Sinopec Zhongyuan Oilfield: Next, based on the exploration breakthrough of the Tiebei 1 side HF (horizontal) well, we will accelerate the preparation of an overall exploration and development plan for the Permian shale gas in the Puguang exploration area, promote efficient resource conversion, and speed up turning the "deep earth forbidden zone" into a "deep earth granary."
Shale gas has become an important replacement area for increasing oil and gas production in China.
China has the resource characteristics of "rich coal, poor oil, and little gas," making it a major oil and gas importing country. In recent years, with continuous innovation in key oil and gas exploration and development technologies, shale gas is becoming the replacement field for oil and gas exploration and sustainable reserve and production increases in China.
Shale gas is a type of unconventional natural gas that requires fracturing the shale to release the gas, recognized by the industry as a world-class challenge. China has abundant shale gas resources, but compared to North American shale gas, the geological conditions are more complex, making exploration and development more difficult.
The commercial development of the Fuling shale gas field in 2012 made China the third country after the United States and Canada to achieve commercial shale gas development. In 2017, China built its first shale gas field with a production capacity of 10 billion cubic meters; in 2020, it completed the first deep shale gas field with proven reserves exceeding 100 billion cubic meters—the first phase of the Weirong shale gas field project.
Currently, China has established three national shale gas demonstration zones in the Sichuan Basin: Fuling, Weiyuan-Changning, and Zhaotong. It has proven eight shale gas fields: Fuling, Changning, Zhaotong, Weiyuan, Luzhou, Weirong, Yongchuan, and Qijiang. The ultra-deep shale gas resources in the Sichuan Basin amount to 16.5 trillion cubic meters. Key equipment and tools have been domestically produced, effectively ensuring national energy security.
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