A view of a pilot test platform for exploiting shale gas operated by PetroChina in Northwest China's Qinghai Province on March 28, 2022. It is the first time that a scaled shale gas production project is being launched in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Photo: cnsphotos. Photo: cnsphotos

China has unlocked a high-yield industrial gas flow with commercial value in the Cambrian shale dating back 540 million years. The development is a global first which holds strategic significance in promoting regional economic and social development and ensuring China's long term energy security.

The high-yield industrial gas flow was detected by PetroChina Southwest Oil & Gasfield Company in a shale gas well in Neijiang, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, China Central Television (CCTV) reported Saturday night. 

The well is reporting daily gas extraction of 738,000 cubic meters, according to the CCTV report. 

The detection, which PetroChina calls a "strategic breakthrough," further solidifies the resource base and development confidence for realizing China's "shale revolution," and poses strategic significance in promoting regional economic and social development and ensuring China's energy security, according to PetroChina, media reported.

PetroChina began shale gas exploration in Cambrian shale in the Sichuan Basin as early as 2009. However, the commercial scale development has not yet been largely tapped due to the complex geological and engineering conditions such as old stratigraphic age, extreme underground depths, and many periods of tectonic evolution. 

With the latest breakthrough, it is expected that a second shale gas field of "trillion-cubic-meter reserves and 10-billion-cubic meter production" could be built in China, providing high-quality clean energy supply to promote Chinese modernization, said He Xiao, general manager of PetroChina Southwest Oil & Gasfield Company.

The first shale gas field of such scale was built in the Sichuan Basin, which has produced over 60 billion cubic meters of shale gas and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 100 million tons, He said. 

Shale gas is a kind of natural gas, and its main component is methane. Compared with conventional oil and gas resources, shale gas is not only abundant, but also considered to be cleaner and more efficient. 

Under the same conditions, the carbon dioxide produced by burning shale gas is only 67 percent of that of oil and 44 percent of that of coal, and it is mainly used for household supply, power generation, auto fuel and chemical production, with a wide range of applications, according to CCTV.

China's shale gas production in 2021 reached 22.7 million cubic meters and has grown annually at 21 percent since 2017, according to a report published by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) in 2022.

Under current technological conditions, China's shale gas production is expected to reach 30 billion cubic meters in 2025 and 35 to 40 billion cubic meters in 2030, CCTV reported.

Global Times