Research progress and key issues of ultra-deep oil and gas exploration in China

Based on the recent oil and gas discoveries and geological understandings on the ultra-deep strata of sedimentary basins, the formation and occurrence of hydrocarbons in the ultra-deep strata were investigated with respect to the processes of basin formation, hydrocarbon generation, reservoir formation and hydrocarbon accumulation, and key issues in ultra-deep oil and gas exploration were discussed. The ultra-deep strata in China underwent two extensional-convergent cycles in the Meso-Neoproterozoic Era and the Early Paleozoic Era respectively, with the tectonic-sedimentary differentiation producing the spatially adjacent source-reservoir assemblages. There are diverse large-scale carbonate reservoirs such as mound-beach, dolomite, karst fracture-vug, fractured karst and faulted zone, as well as over-pressured clastic rock and fractured bedrock reservoirs. Hydrocarbons were accumulated in multiple stages, accompanied by adjusting and finalizing in the late stage. The distribution of hydrocarbons is controlled by high-energy beach zone, regional unconformity, paleo-high and large-scale fault zone. The ultra-deep strata endow oil and gas resources as 33% of the remaining total resources, suggesting an important successive domain for hydrocarbon development in China. The large-scale pool-forming geologic units and giant hydrocarbon enrichment zones in ultra-deep strata are key and promising prospects for delivering successive discoveries. The geological conditions and enrichment zone prediction of ultra-deep oil and gas are key issues of petroleum geology.

China's Technologies for Exploration and Mining of Uranium Deposits Have Stepped into the World's Top Team

On June 2011, the Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology, an Institute within the China National Nuclear Corporation （CNNC）, and the Department of Geology ＆ Mining CNNC carried out a project Scientific Drilling.for Deep Metallogenic Research in the Xiangshan Large Uranium Ore Field. A year later on June 21, the project, representing the first scientific drilling of China＇s uranium, was officially launched, and successfully completed on June 17, 2013. A 2818.88 m of drilling depth has broken the previous record 1200 m of exploration depth.

Return to the Moon:New perspectives on lunar exploration

Lunar exploration is deemed crucial for uncovering the origins of the Earth-Moon system and is the first step for advancing humanity’s exploration of deep space.Over the past decade,the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program(CLEP),also known as the Chang’e(CE)Project,has achieved remarkable milestones.It has successfully developed and demonstrated the engineering capability required to reach and return from the lunar surface.Notably,the CE Project has made historic firsts with the landing and on-site exploration of the far side of the Moon,along with the collection of the youngest volcanic samples from the Procellarum KREEP Terrane.These achievements have significantly enhanced our understanding of lunar evolution.Building on this success,China has proposed an ambitious crewed lunar exploration strategy,aiming to return to the Moon for scientific exploration and utilization.This plan encompasses two primary phases:the first crewed lunar landing and exploration,followed by a thousand-kilometer scale scientific expedition to construct a geological cross-section across the lunar surface.Recognizing the limitations of current lunar exploration efforts and China’s engineering and technical capabilities,this paper explores the benefits of crewed lunar exploration while leveraging synergies with robotic exploration.The study refines fundamental lunar scientific questions that could lead to significant breakthroughs,considering the respective engineering and technological requirements.This research lays a crucial foundation for defining the objectives of future lunar exploration,emphasizing the importance of crewed missions and offering insights into potential advancements in lunar science.

Evolution and application of in-seam drilling for gas drainage

The presence of seam gas in the form of methane or carbon dioxide presents a hazard to underground coal mining operations.In-seam drilling has been undertaken for the past three decades for gas drainage to reduce the risk of gas outburst and lower the concentrations of seam gas in the underground ventilation.The drilling practices have reflected the standards of the times and have evolved with the development of technology and equipment and the needs to provide a safe mining environment underground.Early practice was to adapt equipment from other felds,with rotary drilling being the only form of drilling available.This form of drainage allowed various levels of gas drainage coverage but with changing emphasis,research and development within the coal industry has created specifc equipment,technology and practices to accurately place in-seam boreholes to provide effcient and effective gas drainage.Research into gas content determination established a standard for the process and safe levels for mining operations to continue.Surveying technology improved from the wire-line,single-shot Eastman survey instruments which was time-dependent on borehole depth to electronic instruments located in the drill string which transmitted accurate survey data to the drilling crew without time delays.This allowed improved directional control and increased drilling rates.Directional drilling technology has now been established as the industry standard to provide effective gas drainage drilling.Exploration was identifed as an additional beneft with directional drilling as it has the ability to provide exploration data from long boreholes.The ability of the technology to provide safe and reliable means to investigate the need for inrush protection and water drainage ahead of mining has been established.Directional drilling technology has now been introduced to the Chinese coal industry for gas drainage through a practice of auditing,design,supply,training and ongoing support.Experienced drilling crews can offer site specifc gas drainage drilling services utilising the latest equipment and technology.

Accumulation conditions and key technologies for exploration and development of Qinshui coalbed methane field

The Qinshui Basin has been explored for more than 60 years through two stages of oil and gas reconnaissance survey and exploration&development of coalbed methane(CBM),it has become the largest CBM industrialization base in China and also is a model which successfully realize commercialization of CBM of high rank coal-bearing basin in the world.Although the high-rank coal field is characterized by low pressure,low permeability,low saturation and strong heterogeneity,the exploration practice and research show that the accumulation conditions of CBM reservoir in the Qinshui Basin are superior.As main productive intervals,No.15 coal seam of Taiyuan Formation and No.3 coal seam of Shanxi Formation respectively belong to the epicontinental-sea carbonate platform sedimentary system and the epicontinental-sea shallow-water delta sedimentary system.The coal seam has large thickness,and is mostly composed of humic coal and mainly contains vitrinite.Affected by tectonic thermal events in the Yanshanian period,the coal rank is high,the adsorption capacity is strong,and the gas content is large.Formation of the CBM reservoir goes through three stages including two stages of hydrocarbon generation,gas phase transformation and sealing of hydrodynamics and roof and floor.In view of the characteristics of the Qinshui Basin topography and the high rank coal,a series of key technologies for exploration and development are developed,including mountainous region seismic acquisition,processing and interpretation technology,drilling and completion technology of multiple wells,drilling and completion technology of multiple horizontal wells dominated by compound V type,deplugging secondary fracturing stimulation technology,control technology of high rank CBM drainage,and CBM gathering and transportation technology,which effectively supports the scale and industrialization development of high rank CBM in the Qinshui Basin.

Gas accumulation conditions and key technologies for exploration & development of Sinian and Cambrian gas reservoirs in Anyue gasfield

Exploration of the Sinian-Lower Paleozoic formations in the Sichuan Basin starts from the 1950s,and is tortuous and complex.To summarize the exploration experiences is of great significance of reference for exploration of oil and gas in deep carbonate rocks of the Sichuan Basin.Gas accumulation in the Anyue oversize gasfield is chiefly controlled by the Deyang-Anyue intra-platform rift and central Sichuan paleouplift.The intra-platform rift controls the scale hydrocarbon generation center and effective hydrocarbon plays.The Anyue gasfield is characterized by near-source hydrocarbon accumulation.The marginal zone of intra-platform rift and high part of the paleouplift control the scale distribution of favorable facies belts of reservoir development,and overlapped by paleokarstic reformation,the reservoirs are widely distributed.The intra-platform rift and paleouplift jointly control formation of the scale traps and hydrocarbon enrichment.Gas reservoir features and major controlling factors for hydrocarbon accumulation have some differences in the main play strata,such as Longwangmiao Formation,and Member 4 and Member 2 of Dengying Formation.The gas reservoir in the Longwangmiao Formation is a lithologic gas reservoir under the tectonic setting,and the inherited paleouplift is a key for reservoir formation and hydrocarbon accumulation.The gas reservoir in the Member 4 of Dengying Formation is mainly controlled by large structural-stratigraphic composite traps,and the gas reservoir in the Member 2 of Dengying Formation is the structural trap.Distribution of the large gasfields in the Dengying Formation is controlled by the intra-platform rift,near-source hydrocarbon-reservoir configuration controlled by the ancient erosion plane and stratigraphic sealing in the updip direction.For exploration and development of the Anyue gasfield,four series of technologies are developed,namely,reservoir seismic fine description technology,well logging fine evaluation technology of gas layers,fast drilling technology of complex strata,and stimulation technology for high temperature and high pressure gas layers.Technical progresses provide powerful guarantee for efficient exploration and development of the oversize gasfields.

Reservoir formation conditions and key technologies for exploration and development in Shengtuo oilfield in Bohai Bay Basin

The Shengtuo oilfield is the largest monolithic oilfield in the Bohai Bay Basin and even in the continental fault basins of Eastern China.Since discovered in 1963,the Shengtuo oilfield experiences the early exploration stage of rapid reserve discovery and production,the middle exploration stage of high and stable production and development,and the late exploration stage of theoretical and technological innovation for expanding the field of exploration,research on fine development technology of high-water-cut reservoir for enhanced oil recovery,and maintaining slow decline of oil production.Re-serves of this oilfield increase in each stage.By the end of 2018,after more than 50 years of exploration and development,the Shengtuo oilfeld has cumulative proven oil reserves of 0.512 x 10°t,cumulative oil production of 0.193 x 109t,and it keeps stable annual production of more than 150 x 105t in 2018.Abundant hydrocarbon resources,large anticline structure near to oil source,multiple types of reservoirs and traps,and favorable hydrocarbon migration channels provide favorable hydrocarbon accumulation conditions for the Shengtuo oilfield.Fine development techniques such water-flooding in the early development stage,fine reservoir description in the high water cut stage,stratigraphic subdivision and well pattem vector adjustment,tapping remaining oil in rhythmic layers,etc,as well as conti nuous progress in exploration technologies of glutenite and turbidite reservoirs around the main body of the oilfield in the high-level exploration stage,provide effective supports for continuous increase of reserves and long-term high and stable production of the Shengtuo oilfeld.

Reservoir formation conditions and key technologies for exploration and development in Qingcheng large oilfield

The Qingcheng oilfield,the largest shale oil field in China,was discovered in 2019 in source rock of Chang 7 Member of Mesozoic Yanchang Formation,Changqing Oilfield in Ordos Basin,with newly increased proven geological reserves of 358 million tons,predicted geological reserves of 693 million tons,and a total of 1.051 billion tons of shale oil resources.This achieves a historic breakthrough in exploration of shale oil in Chang 7 Member.In recent years,focusing on key issues,such as whether there develop sweet spots in source rock,whether commercial oil production capacity can be formed,and whether scale-effective development can be achieved,studies about geological conditions for shale oil accumulation have been continuously carried out,key supporting technologies have been developed,and a series of theoretical innovations and technological breakthroughs have been achieved in oil exploration in source rocks.The results indicate that shale oil accumulation in Chang 7 Member is controlled by following factors.Firstly,lacustrine black shale,dark mudstone and other high-quality source rocks lay a material foundation for shale oil formation.Secondly,sandy deposits intercalated within black shale and dark mudstones are exploration sweet spots,and sandbody combination types are controlled by morphology of bottom of the lacustrine basin.Thirdly,reservoir properties are good due to development of micro-nano pore throats.Finally,reservoirs with high oil saturation and high gas-oil ratio are formed due to high-intensity oil charging in source rock.Effective matching of multiple factors is a key for shale oil accumulation in Chang 7 Member in Ordos Basin.Through innovation of key supporting technologies,exploration and development technologies for shale oil are developed,and substantial breakthrough on exploration and development of shale oil is realized.The first application of logging-seismic combination technology in loess plateau improves significantly quality of 3D seismic data,which effectively guides prediction of sandy sweet spots.Three-quality well logging technology is used for further evaluation of geological and engineering sweet spots of shale oil.With volumetric fracturing technology based on precise segmentation of long horizontal wells,initial daily oil production of individual well is increased from previously 10 tons to more than 18 tons.The exploration breakthrough in source rocks in Chang 7 Member in Qingcheng oilfield provides an important resource base for the second accelerated development of Changqing Oilfield.It is predicated that oil production from shale in Chang 7 Member in Qingcheng oilfield will reach three million tons in 2022 and five million tons in 2025.