Reservoir Evaluation and Development ›› 2021, Vol. 11 ›› Issue (2): 135-145.doi: 10.13809/j.cnki.cn32-1825/te.2021.02.001

• Expert Forum •     Next Articles

Challenges and countermeasures of effective development with large scale of deep shale gas in Sichuan Basin

HE Zhiliang1,2,3(),NIE Haikuan1,2,4,JIANG Tingxue1,5   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Shale Oil and Gas Enrichment Mechanisms and Effective Development, Beijing 100083, China
    2. Sinopec Key Laboratory of Shale Oil/Gas Exploration & Production, Beijing 100083, China
    3. Department of Science and Technology, Sinopec, Beijing 100728, China
    4. Sinopec Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute, Beijing 100083, China
    5. Sinopec Research Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Beijing 100101, China
  • Received:2021-01-12 Online:2021-04-30 Published:2021-04-26

Abstract:

Deep shale gas(buried depth is larger than 3 500 m) is the potential resource for future exploration in Sichuan Basin. Although the industrial shale gas flows have been obtained at the depth of 3 500~4 000 m in Wufeng-Longmaxi Formation of Sichuan Basin, the commercial development hasn’t been put into practice due to the rapid decline and the low EUR(Estimated Ultimate Recovery). Based on the analysis of the current status of shale gas exploration and development, the challenges in the deep shale gas development with high efficiency and large scale in Sichuan Basin have been summarized, mainly in the following aspects: the understanding of occurrence mechanism and enrichment law of deep shale gas needs to be deepened, engineering and technology of economical and effective fracturing treatment need to be established, and the organizational operations and management methods of deep shale gas development are difficult to meet the needs of the large-scale and high efficient development. Three countermeasures are proposed to realize the large-scale and highly efficient development of deep shale gas: ①deepening the understanding of deep shale gas enrichment laws, establishing the methods of area selection and evaluation, and forming the prediction and description technologies of “sweet spot” and “sweet window”; ②deepening the research on the geological conditions of deep shale gas, forming an advanced supporting technology of drilling and fracturing and an equipment system to fully release the reservoir capacity; ③promoting the geology-engineering integration, building a new system and mechanism, and greatly reducing the cost to maximize the development benefits of deep shale gas. The industrial gas flows have been obtained in several wells at the depth of more than 3 500 m of Wufeng-Longmaxi Formation in Sichuan Basin and the proven reserves have been submitted. It is the key and priority stratum of the deep shale gas development. By deepening the geological understanding, overcoming the key technical problems, and improving the management system, it can significantly accelerate the speed, reduce the cost, increase the efficiency and achieve a large-scale and highly efficient development in a relatively short period. The output is expected to be higher than that of the middle and shallow shale gas reservoir.

Key words: deep shale gas, effective development, geology-engineering integration, Wufeng-Longmaxi Formation, Sichuan Basin

CLC Number: 

  • TE122