PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Volume 37, Issue 6, December 2010

Online English edition of the Chinese language journal

Cite this article as: PETROL. EXPLOR. DEVELOP., 2010, 37(6): 641–653. RESEARCH PAPER

Geological characteristics and resource potential of shale

gas in China
Zou Caineng1,2,*, Dong Dazhong1,2, Wang Shejiao1,2, Li Jianzhong1,2, Li Xinjing1,2, Wang Yuman1,2,
Li Denghua1,2, Cheng Keming1,2
1. PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China;
2. State Key Laboratory of EOR, Beijing 100083, China

Abstract: With Sichuan Basin as focus, this paper introduces the depositional environment, geochemical and reservoir characteristics,
gas concentration and prospective resource potential of three different types of shale in China: marine shale, marine-terrigenous shale and
terrigenous shale. Marine shale features high organic abundance (TOC: 1.0%–5.5%), high-over maturity (Ro: 2%–5%), rich accumulation
of shale gas (gas concentration: 1.17–6.02 m3/t) and mainly continental shelf deposition, mainly distributed in the Paleozoic in the Yang-
tze area, Southern China, the Paleozoic in Northern China Platform and the Cambrian-Ordovician in Tarim Basin; Marine-terrigenous
coalbed carbonaceous shale has high organic abundance (TOC: 2.6%–5.4%) and medium maturity (Ro: 1.1%–2.5%); terrigenous shale in
the Mesozoic and Cenozoic has high organic abundance (TOC: 0.5%–22.0%) and mid-low maturity (Ro: 0.6–1.5%). The study on shale
reservoirs in the Lower Paleozoic in Sichuan Basin discoveried nanometer-sized pores for the first time, and Cambrian and Silurian ma-
rine shale developed lots of micro- and nanometer-sized pores (100–200 nm), which is quite similar to the conditions in North America.
Through comprehensive evaluation, it is thought that several shale gas intervals in Sichuan Basin are the practical targets for shale gas
exploration and development, and that the Weiyuan-Changning area in the Mid-South of Sichuan Basin, which is characterized by high
thermal evolution degree (Ro: 2.0%–4.0%), high porosity (3.0%–4.8%), high gas concentration (2.82–3.28 m3/t), high brittle mineral con-
tent (40%–80%) and proper burial depth (1500–4500 m), is the core area for shale gas exploration and development, the daily gas pro-
duction for Well Wei 201 is 1×104–2×104 m3.

Key words: unconventional hydrocarbon; shale gas; nanometer-sized pore throat; shale oil; tight oil; source rock hydrocarbon; core
area

1 Exploration and development status of shale
gas
The 300-year development (1880-2180) of oil/gas industry
has mainly experienced three phases: structure reservoir,
lithologic-stratigraphic reservoir and unconventional reservoir.
The reservoir distribution has three patterns: individual, ag-
gregated and continuous. The transformation from structure
reservoir to lithologic-stratigraphic reservoir demonstrated the
1st theoretical and technological breakthrough with focus on
finding oil/gas traps. The 2nd theoretical and technological
breakthrough or revolution was the transformation from
lithologic-stratigraphic trap reservoir to unconventional con-
tinuous reservoir, with focus on finding favorable hydrocar-
bon accumulation bodies. the “retention reservoiring” mecha-
nism of shale gas has transcended the concepts of conven-
tional reservoir property lower limit and finding oil in tradi-
tional traps[1]. With the increasing complexity of exploration
targets and progress of E&P technologies, the unconventional
hydrocarbon (conventional hydrocarbon generally refers to
oil/gas accumulated in reservoirs with air permeability over
1×103 ȝm2 or formation permeability over 0.1×103 ȝm2,
while unconventional hydrocarbon refers to oil/gas in reser-
voirs with air permeability under 1×103 ȝm2 or formation
permeability under 0.1×103 ȝm2), accounting for over 80% of
the total resources, such as shale gas, coal bed methane, tight
gas, tight oil and shale oil, has drawn great attention (Fig. 1)
and was effectively developed with proportional increase both
in reserves and production year by year. It was thought tradi-
tionally that shale could generate oil and gas, but its oil/gas
storage capability was neglected, not to mention its industrial
accumulation capability of shale oil and gas. In recent years,
the development of typical unconventional shale gas has wit-
nessed rapid progress. The advancement of geological under-
standings, the concept of “core area discovery first” and app-

Received date: 10 Jun. 2010; Revised date: 27 Aug. 2010.

* Corresponding author. E-mail: zcn@petrochina.com.cn
Foundation item: Supported by National Large-scale Gas Field and Coal Bed Methane Development Project (2008ZX05001)
Copyright © 2010, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina. Published by Elsevier BV. All rights reserved.
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653
Fig. 1 Oil/gas resources type and accumulation pattern
lication of various advanced technologies, including experi-
mental analysis technology, logging evaluation technology,
resource potential evaluation technology, horizontal well
drilling and completion technology in shale reservoirs and
simultaneous multi-stage and repetitive fracturing and stimu-
lation technology, are key factors that facilitate the fast de-
velopment of shale gas. The scientific value of shale gas
breakthrough lies in the following: (1) Breaking through into
the resource forbidden zone, adding new resource type of
shale gas, even adding the total reserves in the world; (2)
breaking through the conventional reservoir concepts, that is,
the conventional reservoir property lower limit and conven-
tional trapping theory. Proving nano-sized pores can also ac-
cumulate industrial petroleum and gas, challenging the
nano-sized reservoir limit, furthermore, revealing that density
oil and shale oil can also be a new exploration area; (3) break-
ing through the unconventional exploration technology. It
really realizes oil/gas technologies upgrading. Applying
horizontal multi-stage fracturing, micro-seismic and other
technologies into unconventional and conventional reservoirs
of tight hydrocarbon will be more economic and efficient and
can dramatically improve oil/gas recovery ratio, promoting
unconventional resources of tight oil/gas and shale oil into
conventional fields.
The 1st shale gas well was drilled in the Devonian Dunkirk
shale in the Appalachian Basin in 1821. The 1st shale gas field
was the Big Sandy gas field discovered in 1914[2]. There are
four stages: the accidental discovery during 1821-1978,
knowledge advancement and technology breakthrough during
1978-2003, extension and application of technologies such as
horizontal well and hydro fracturing during 2003-2006, global
development during 2007-2010 (shale gas Chinese year,
Europe year). George Mitchell, honored as “Father of Shale
Gas”, intentionally carried out the large scale fracturing and
got success in the C. W. Slay No.1 well for Barnett shale in
1981, which realized the real breakthrough of shale gas. By
the end of 2009, there were 30 shale gas basins discovered in
North America and over 50000 gas wells were completed with
depth of 2500–4500 m. The annual production in 2009 was
about 950×108 m3 [3], accounting for 12% of the total gas pro-
duction in North America (production in USA is 889×108 m3).
Chinese shale gas got through 3 stages, fracture hydrocarbon
exploration and accidental discovery (before 2005), base re-
search and technology prepare (2005-2009), and industry
breakthrough (2010). In 1966, Wei-5 well in the Weiyuan
structure in Sichuan Basin got daily gas production of
2.46×104 m3 at Cambrian Qiongzhusi Formation and became
the first shale gas well in China[4]. In 2008, PetroChina Re-
search Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development
(RIPED) drilled the 1st shale gas geological coring well in
China—Changxin-1 well[5] in the Changning area, Sichuan
Basin. In 2009, PetroChina started the first batch of construc-
tion of shale gas industrial experiment areas in the regions of
Sichuan Weiyuan-Changning, Fushun-Yongchuan. In 2010,
PetroChina RIPED established the 1st Silurian shale gas digi-
tal standard section for Chinese shale gas in the Changning
area, Sichuan Basin in 2010, PetroChina gets industrial gas
flow (daily gas production 1×104–2×104) from the Cambrian
and Silurian shale in Wei-201 well in the Sichuan Basin, real-
izing the first industrial breakthrough of Chinese shale gas.
After years of study and development practices, important
breakthroughs on shale gas forming mechanism and accumu-
lation condition was made in Northern America[6-15], and
complete E&P associated techniques were formed. This paper
analyzes the basic features, forming and accumulation condi-
tions, and current challenges of shale gas in China and pre-
dicts the resource potential of shale gas resources in China,
which may provide references for the future shale gas study
and E&P in China.
2 Distribution of organic-rich shale rock in China
Source rock hydrocarbon is one kind of new resource type,
including shale oil, shale gas, coal bed gas etc. which are self
generation and self storage, mainly produced from reservoirs
inside source rocks.
Shale is composed of fine debris, clay and organic matter
(the diameter is less than 0.0039 mm). It is laminated or la-
mellar bedding and brittle sedimentary rock, that is, the
fine-grained sedimentary rock with grain size less than 0.0039
mm in America.
Shale gas (or gas shale) is natural gas produced from black
shale rich in organic matter, or self-generation and self-sto-
rage natural gas continuously accumulated in nano-scale mi-
cropores in shale.
Organic-rich shale around China refers to marine facies,
marine-terrigenous alternated facies and lacustrine facies
shale and mainly focuses on good shale source rock in oil/gas
bearing basins. Fig. 2 is the distribution map of three types of
shale compiled from shale formation and distribution charac-
teristics in China. In the Yangtze area, Southern China, marine
facies shale is mainly siliceous shale (e.g. Niutitang bottom
shale in the Yangtze area), black shale, calcareous shale and
sandy shale, which is laminated after weathering. Ma-
rine-terrigenous alternated facies shale is mainly carbona-
ceous shale and sandy shale. Lacustrine facies shale has
well-developed lamination. The Cenozoic lacustrine facies
shale in Bohai Gulf Basin and Qaidam Basin has high cal-
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653

careous content, belonging to calcareous shale. The Mesozoic
lacustrine shale facies in Ordos Basin has high quartz content.
2.1 Features of shale with rich shale gas
Currently, the five enrichment and high production condi-
tions for commercial shale gas development area or core area
generally refer to effective shale which has TOC over 2%, is
within the gas window, and has a brittle mineral content over
40%. Commercial development of shale can be fulfilled when
the thickness of effective shale is over 30-50 m (effective
shale thickness should be over 30 m if continuously devel-
oped; if discontinuously developed or TOC value less than 2%,
the total thickness should be over 50 m). In North America,
the minimum effective thickness of shale gas pay zone is 6 m
(Fayetteville) and the maximum thickness is 304 m (Marcel-
lus), but the effective thickness is over 30 m in the core area.
Take the Longmaxi Formation (S1) and Qiongzhusi Forma-
tion (ȯ1) in Wei-201 well in the core area of Wei-
yuan-Changning, Sichuan Basin, as an example, the TOC is
2%–11%, brittle mineral 47–73%, clay mineral 24%–43%, Ro
2.4%–5.0%, porosity 1.2%–8.0%, permeability 12.7–955 nD,
and the effective gas-layer thickness 33–49 m.
Based on shale gas E&P experiences, statistic analysis and
key experimental results in North America, favorable shale gas
and core areas are thought to have four major characteristics
and three major development characteristics, as shown in Table 1.

Fig. 2 Distribution of three major shale types in China

Table 1 Summary of shale gas features

Geological characteristics
Same source rock and reservoir, con-
tinuous accumulation, saturated accumu- Low individual well production
lation; No evident trap boundary, sealing and long production cycle
or cap rock necessary
Tight reservoir, mainly nano-scale pores;
Natural gas was stored in adsorbed gas
and free gas pattern;
Not controlled by structure, continuous
and large area distribution, same area as
effective gas-generation source rock
Large resource potential, with local
“sweet spot” core areas
Development characteristics Accumulation and high production condition for core area
(1) TOC˚2% (non-residual organic carbon); (2) Brittle mineral
(e.g. quartz) content over 40% and clay mineral content less than
30%; (3) Maturity of dark organic rich shale is over 1.1%; (4) Air
porosity over 2%, permeability over 0.000 1×103 ȝm2; (5) Effec-
tive thickness of organic rich shale over 30–50 m
Mainly non-Darcy flow, no
water production or very little
water production
Effective development requires horizontal well, multi-stage frac-
turing, micro-seismic and other advanced technologies to improve
“artificial” retiform permeability
Lower recovery ratio
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653

the Lower Permian Shanxi Formation–Taiyuan Formation in

2.2 Regional geological background of shale in China
During the Paleozoic period, wide marine facies and ma-
rine-terrigenous alternated facies deposition formed in South-
ern China, Northern China and Tarim area, where several sets
of marine organic-rich shale and marine-terrigenous alternated
coal seam carbonaceous shale developed[6]. However, most
Paleozoic marine shale experienced compressive deformation
or uplift during the later reformation process. For example,
the southern Yangtze area is mainly later uplifting reformation.
In some tectonically stable area, such as Sichuan Basin,
Northern China and Tarim Basin, the formation preservation
condition was good.
Since the Mesozoic and Cenozoic, unique terrestrial lake
basin deposition was formed in China[6]. These terrestrial
deposition basins were not big, but deposited widely-distri-
buted lacustrine source rock during the stable subsidence
stage, which has great hydrocarbon generation potential[6]. For
example, the Lower Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation in
Songliao Basin and the Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation
lacustrine shale in Ordos Basin are both important source
rocks in these basins.
2.3 Depositional features of shale
Different stages of basin evolution directly control the de-
velopment and distribution of organic-rich shale[16]. Accord-
ing to the depositional environment, organic-rich shale rock
can be divided into marine shale, marine-terrigenous coal bed
carbonaceous shale and lacustrine shale (Table 2).
Paleozoic marine shale in Southern China, Northern China
platform and Tarim platform mainly formed in deep
continental shelf facies, where water depth was over 200 m,
fossila organism was abundant and the depositional environ-
ment was strong reducing environment. For example, the
Cambrian Qiongzhusi Formation and Silurian Longmaxi
Formation black shale developed in Sichuan Basin are deep
water continental shelf deposition controlled by continental
margin depressions[17] (Fig. 3). The area of organic rich black
shale is 13.5×104–18.0×104 km2 and the thickness is 200–400
m. It contains graptolite and other marine planktonic organism
and authigenic pyrite. The organic carbon content is 1.85%–
4.36% and the highest value can reach 11.0%–22.3%. A large
amount of shale gas was discovered within both two sets of
black shale.
Coal bed shale was formed in marine-terrigenous transi-
tional facies, such as the Carboniferous Benxi Formation and
Ordos Basin, the Carboniferous–Permian in Junggar Basin,
the Carboniferous–Permian in Tarim Basin, the Carbonife-
rous–Permian in Northern China, and the Permian Longtan
Formation in Southern China. It can also be major source rock
for large-scale oil/gas fields. For example, the Upper
Paleozoic carbonaceous shale in Ordos Basin is the major gas
source rock for Sulige and other large gas fields. The Trias-
sic–Jurassic and Tertiary developed several sets of carbona-
ceous shale, which were associated with coal beds. It was also
good gas source rock. Most oil/gas fields discovered in Tuha
Basin originated from carbonaceous shale rock of the Jurassic
coal bed.
China has well developed lacustrine shale in hydrocarbon
bearing basins, such as the Paleogene in Bohai Gulf Basin, the
Cretaceous in Songliao Basin, the Triassic in Ordos Basin, the
Triassic in Sichuan Basin, the Triassic–Jurassic in Tarim Ba-
sin and the Jurassic in Junggar Basin. During the extensional
stage of the lake basin, thick lacustrine facies shale, which
contained very rich organic matters and fossils like mus-
sel-shrimp, sporopollen, bacteria and other higher plants, was
formed. It was about 200–2 500 m thick and the organic
carbon content is 2%–3% and the maximum value is 7%–14%.
In the Mesozoic and Cenozoic formations, several different-
sized oil/gas accumulation belts were discovered[18], such as
Daqing Oilfield, Shengli Oilfield, Liaohe Oilfield and Ordos
Mesozoic oil/gas accumulation belt.
2.4 Distribution features of shale
Marine facies shale developed well in China with extensive
distribution and large thickness[19]. It includes Sinian Dou-
shantuo Formation (Z2), Qiongzhusi Formation (ȯ1),
Dachengshi Formation (O1), Wufeng–Longmaxi Formation
(O3–S1), Luofu Formation (D2), Dewu Formation–Datang
Formation (C1) and Longtan Formation (P2) (Table 3). The
best shale is mainly distributed at the Lower Cambrian, Upper
Ordovician top and Lower Silurian bottom, with the Yangtze
cratonic area as a typical example.
Lower Cambrian marine shale developed well in the
mid-upper Yangtze area. Its organic type belongs to sapropel
type–mixed type. From its depositional environment, three
deep water continental shelf areas, including Eastern Si-
chuan–Western Hubei, Southern Sichuan and the Hu-
nan-Guizhou area, have the best-developed marine shale[20].
The average thickness reaches 100 m and the TOC average

Table 2 Shale classification and distribution in China

Depositional type
Marine shale
Marine-terrigenous transi-
tional coal bed carbonaceous
shale
Lacustrine shale
Distribution area
Paleozoic in Yangtze area, Paleozoic-Proterozoic in Northern China, Cambrian-Ordovician in Tarim Basin
Carboniferous Benxi Formation and Lower Permian Shanxi-Taiyuan Formation in Ordos Basin,
Carboniferous-Permian in Junggar Basin, Carboniferous-Permian in Tarim Basin, Carboniferous-
Permian in Northern China area, Permian Longtan Formation in Southern China
Cretaceous in Songliao Basin, Paleogene in Bohai Gulf Basin, Triassic in Ordos Basin, Triassic-Jurassic in
Sichuan Basin, Jurassic in Junggar-Tuha Basin, Triassic-Jurassic in Tarim Basin, Tertiary in Qaidam Basin
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653

Fig. 3 Composite stratigraphy column of black shale in Sichuan Basin

Table 3 Marine facies shale distribution in China

Thickness (m)
Strata Area/104 km2 Distribution area
Range Average
Dewu Formation–
Carboniferous 50–150 100 6 Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi
Datang Formation (C1)
Yunnan, Guizhou and Guangxi,
Devonian Luofu Formation (D2) 100–600 200 13
west and south Hunan
Wufeng-Longmaxi
Silurian 20–700 120 42 Yangtze area
Formation (O3–S1)
Ordovician Dachengsi Formation (O1) 20–100 40 3 Upper Yangtze area
Qiongzhusi Formation (ȯ1) 50–700 100 30–50 Yangtze area
Cambrian
ȯ1+2 50–110 80 7 Tarim Basin
Eastern part of Upper Yangtze–
Sinian Doushantuo Formation (Z2) 10–100 47 15
Western part of Mid-Yangtze
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653
value is about 8%. The Lower Cambrian marine shale devel-
oped around the whole Sichuan Basin and the lithology
mainly includes siliceous shale, carbonaceous shale, silty
shale and black shale. The average thickness is 139 m and the
average TOC is 1.0%–5.5%. The burial depth in the southern
part of the basin is less than 4 000 m.
Upper Ordovician–Lower Silurian marine shale has wide
distribution in Southeast and Northeast Sichuan, Western
Hubei–Eastern Chongqing and the mid-lower Yangtze area[5].
The lithology is mainly black shale, carbonaceous shale, black
graptolite shale and calcareous shale with the average thick-
ness of 120 m and the average TOC of about 4%. Kerogen
type is sapropel type. The Upper Ordovician–Lower Silurian
marine shale in Sichuan Basin developed well in southern and
eastern Sichuan area. According to the statistics of the digital
type section of Upper Ordovician Wufeng Formation–Lower
Silurian Longmaxi Formation marine shale in Shuanghe,
Changning established by integrated application of Gamma
spectrometry, element capture, ground penetrating radar and
continental laser 3D perfect information scanning technolo-
gies (Fig. 4), the thickness of Upper Ordovician Wufeng
Formation–Lower Permian Longmaxi Formation black shale
in southern Sichuan is over 308 m and its kerogen type is
sapropel type with the average TOC value of 2.94% and
maximum value of 8.75%.
The marine-terrigenous alternated facies and lacustrine fa-
cies coal bed carbonaceous shale is distributed widely at
Northern China, Southern China and Tarim Basin (Table 4).
In Northern China, it mainly developed at the Tianshan-Xing-
meng trough. The thickness of the Shanxi Formation–Taiyuan
Formation–Benxi Formation marine-terrigenous alternated
facies shale in Ordos Basin is 40–120 m. Single layer thick-
ness is not large but it mainly alternated with coal beds, tight
sandstone and even thin layer limestone. The maximum
thickness of the Carboniferous Dishuiquan Formation carbo-
naceous shale in Junggar Basin reaches 249 m and the total
thickness of Permian Lucaogou Formation (P2) black shale
exceeds 200 m. The Permian Longtan Formation shale carbo-
naceous shale in Southern China is 20–200 m thick, with
maximum thickness of 670 m and distribution area of
30×104–50×104 km2. The Upper Permian Longtan Formation
shale in the Yunnan-Guizhou-Guangxi area is 20–60 m. The
Upper Permian shale in Sichuan Basin is 10–125 m thick, in
which Central Southwestern Sichuan is 80–110 m thick while
the Northwest, Northern and Northeast margins of Sichuan
Basin are thin, mostly less than 20 m. The Mesozoic-Ceno-
zoic lacustrine facies coal bed carbonaceous shale mainly
developed in depressions and rifting basins. For example, the
Jurassic in Ordos Basin and Junggar Basin, the Upper Triassic
(150–1 000 m) in Sichuan Basin and the Jurassic in Tuha Ba-
sin (50–400 m thick and the maximum thickness can reach
1 200 m).
Generally, marine-terrigenous alternated facies and Meso-
zoic-Cenozoic lacustrine facies carbonaceous shale in China,
except those thick layers in the Upper Yangtze area and the
Yunnan-Guizhou-Guangxi area, is mostly thin-layered in
most areas and is often interbedded with coal bed and tight
sand, or even limestone. The average thickness of individual
layer is less than 15 m. It will be very challenging to develop
this thin coal bed shale gas alone, and multi-target joint de-
velopment of shale gas, tight gas and coalbed methane could
be new ways for effective development.
Lacustrine facies shale, distributed mainly in terrestrial hy-
drocarbon-bearing basins, has the widest distribution (Table
5). Statistic data indicates that over 80% of the current oil/gas
in China is from lacustrine source rock. Songliao Basin, Or-
dos Basin and other Mesozoic-Cenozoic depressions and
Bohai Gulf Cenozoic rifting basins[21] all deposited thick
lacustrine organic-rich shale, limestone, sandstone and mud-
stone[22]. For example, in Songliao Basin, Nenjiang Formation
and Qingshankou Formation, shale developed very well. Nen-
jiang Formation is distributed around the whole basin very
stably and its thickness at the central depression area exceeds
250 m. The 1st member of Qingshankou Formation is almost
all black shale at the central depression area with thickness of
60–80 m. Its kerogen type is I–II and Ro value is 0.9%–1.8%.
The Chang 7 Member of Yanchang Formation in Ordos Basin
is mainly deep lacustrine facies deposition. The average thick-
ness of organic-rich shale is 20–40 m and the distribution area
exceeds 4×104 km2 with average TOC content of 14%. Its
kerogen type is I–II and Ro value is 0.6%–1.2%. Recently, a
lot of tight oil was discovered in this set of lacustrine shale.
The oil layers are tight silty stone interbeds, which are 1020
m thick with porosity of 10.2% and permeability of 0.21×103
ȝm2, the sandstone with pore throat radius between 40-100
nm occupies 96%. There are almost 200 industrial oil wells
now, with the average daily production of 8.6 t/d, oil API 55 o
–70o. In the Jurassic of the Sichuan Basin, Dingdaanzhai
Formation developed continuous testaceous tight shale oil,
Lianggaoshan Formation and Saximiao Formation developed
tight sandstone oil; the favorable distribution area is over
1.5×104 m2, porosity 1-5%, permeability 0.03-1.00 mD, crude
oil API 70–100o, the discovered tight oil reserves in place are
8118×104 t. These characteristics are very close to those of
tight oil discovered in Bakken Shale in Willistone Basin,
North America[23]. Bakken Shale is a set of organic rich shale
developed at the top of Upper Devonian, can be divided into 9
intervals from up to bottom, the lowest interval has the shale
with thickness of 12–15 m, TOC value of 14%–18% and Ro
value of 1.1%–1.3%, which is a shale layer rich in organic
matter. The overlying second interval tight silty sandstone oil
layer has the porosity of 10%–13%, permeability 0.01×103
–1×103 ȝm2, thickness is 5–15 m and the total area is 75 563
km2. In 1999, USGS experts estimated that the tight oil re-
source potential in the shale was 578×108 t, generally
241×108– 518×108 t. Nano-scale pores are the main pores for
tight hydrocarbon. While tight oil is another great discovery
after shale gas breakthrough, being the new highlight.
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653

Fig. 4 Composite stratigraphy column of Upper Ordovician Wufeng Formation–Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation marine facies
shale in the Shuanghe area, Changning, Sichuan Basin
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653

Table 4 Marine-terrigenous alternated facies and coal bed carbonaceous shale distribution in China
Stratigraphy Shale interval Thickness/m Area/104 km2 Distribution
Cretaceous Shehezi Formation (J3sh) 100–350 4.0–5.0 Songliao Basin
Shuixigou Group (J1—2sh) 50–600 0.3–0.5 Tuha Basin
Jurassic Xishanyao Formation (J2x) 350–400 2.0–3.0 Junggar Basin
Kezhilenuer Formation (J2k) and Yangxia Formation (J1y) 300–800 7.0–9.0 Tarim Basin
Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation (T3x) 150–1 000 3.0–4.0 Sichuan Basin
Longtan Formation (P2l) 20–200 30.0–50.0 Yangtze area
Carboniferous- Shanxi Formation (P1s), Taiyuan Formation (P1t)
50–180 20.0–30.0 Northern China area
Permian and Benxi Formation (C2b)
Lucaogou Formation (P2l) and Dishuiquan Formation (C1d) 200–450 2.0–3.0 Junggar Basin

Table 5 Lacustrine shale distribution in China accumulations. Its organic matter is mainly III type, belonging
Epoch 4
Thickness/m Area/10 km 2
Distribution to humic type kerogen, which mainly generates gas during the
T—J 1 200–1 500 2.0–3.0 Junggar Basin whole maturity evolution phase. When its Ro value reaches
T 20–160 4.0–5.0 Ordos Basin 1.0%, the natural gas conversion rate can be over 40%; when
Mesozoic
K 200–400 4.0–5.0 Songliao Basin Ro value reaches 2.5%, the natural gas conversion rate can
J 300–500 0.3–0.5 Tuha Basin reach 95%. The Ro range of 0.8%–2.5% is the main gas gen-
E 800–2 300 0.8–1.0 Liaohe Depression eration stage of coal bed organic matter[28]. The blocks with
E 2 000–2 500 1.0–1.5 Huanghua Depression higher hydrogen rich matter content are favorable for shale
Cenozoic
E 220–1 300 1.2–1.5 Jiyang Depression gas accumulation. Therefore, all three types of shale in China
E-N 800 0.3–0.5 Qaidam Basin have fulfilled the requirements of forming shale gas resources.
However, some geochemical characteristics of shale gas
3 Geochemical features of shale gas in China prospective areas in China are different from those of North
Shale gas is natural gas (mainly methane) accumulated in America shale gas producing areas. For example, Paleozoic
organic-rich source rock formations. As an important type of source rock in most of the Yangtze Platform area including
“organic mineral grain”, organic matter can not only provide Sichuan Basin is the regional main source rock. Although it
abundant material basis for conventional oil/gas reservoirs, belongs to I type kerogen, but the maturity is generally high or
itself can also store and produce oil/gas. Lots of researches over mature with low remaining hydrocarbon generation po-
indicated that the preliminary selection of geothermal origin tential. Most mid-large coal type gas fields in China, for ex-
shale gas zone required that shale should meet some geo- ample, the Upper Paleozoic Carboniferous–Permian carbona-
chemical index, for example, organic matter abundance (TOC) ceous shale in Ordos, Tarim and the Northern China area of-
should be over 2%, maturity (Ro) should be higher than 1.1%. ten have high organic matter content and Ro value of
Shale gas E&P risks can be significantly reduced in areas 1.1%–2.5%. The organic matter is mostly II–III type. In Or-
where all these standards are mainly fulfilled. dos Basin, the Mesozoic Triassic Chang 7 member black shale
is good source rock and has high GR value, high resistivity,
3.1 General geochemical features of shale
low density and high interval transit time. The organic matter
Marine shale, marine-terrigenous alternated shale and is I type and has very good hydrocarbon generation potential.
lacustrine shale are distributed widely in China[2427]. Different However, its maturity is only 0.90%–1.16%, belonging to oil
depositional environments may form different types of or- generation peak stage.
ganic matter. The oil-prone or gas-prone property may also be Shale oil developed extensively within the terrestrial for-
different. Several basins or blocks have fulfilled the basic mations in China. Shale oil is the petroleum accumulated
geochemical standards of shale gas accumulation (Table 6). within the internal pores and fractures of source rock. For
The Lower Paleozoic Cambrian Qiongzhusi Formation and example, it has been discovered that oil shale accumulated in
Silurian Longmaxi Formation marine facies black shale in Lower Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation and Nenjiang
Sichuan Basin, the Cretaceous lacustrine shale in Songliao Formation in the Gulong Sag, Songliao Basin. The shale is
Basin, the Triassic lacustrine shale in Ordos Basin all belong organic rich, the total thickness is 300–620 m, with abnormal
to I–II1 type kerogen and have good oil-prone property. When high pressure, the kerogen is I–II type and the Ro value is
Ro value over 1.2%, in the high- and over-mature shale forma- 0.9%–1.8%. At first, the Qingshankou Formation shale in
tion, oil is first generated, then cracked to form gas, thus form Da-4 well in the Da’an structure got daily production of 2.66 t,
the “continuous” gas generation and gathering for marine and over 50 other wells had oil/gas shows, in which 4 of them
shale. As important gas source rock, the Paleozoic Carbonif- produce little oil/gas (wells Gu-501, Ying-15, Ying-3 and
erous–Permian and Mesozoic Jurassic coal bed carbonaceous Da-111) and 5 of them got industrial oil/gas flows (wells
shale in Northern China has formed large-scale natural gas Ying-12, Ying-18, Ying-16, Gu-1 and Da-4). In the southern
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653

Table 6 Organic geochemical parameters of three types of shale in China

TOC/% Ro/% Kerogen type
Shale type Location Strata and lithology
Range Average
Cambrian black shale 1.00–5.50 2.30–5.20 I–II1
Sichuan Basin Silurian Longmaxi Fm. black
2.00–4.00 1.60–3.60 I–II 1
graptolite shale
Cambrian deep gray muddy lime-
Marine 0.18–5.52 2.28 1.90–2.04
Tarim Basin stone, black shale I–II1
Lower Ordovician black shale 0.17–2.13 1.15 1.74
Southeast Margin of Wufeng Formation–Longmaxi
1.73–3.12 2.46 1.83–2.54 I
Upper Yangtze Formation bottom
Carboniferous dark shale 0.19–37.98 4.20 0.60–1.90 II–III
Hexi Corridor
Marine-terrigenous Carbonaceous shale 0.27–50.52 5.44
transition Black and deep gray
Ordos Basin 2.68–2.93 1.10–2.50 III
carbonaceous shale
Triassic Yanchang Formation
Ordos Basin 6.00–22.00 14.00 0.90–1.16 I–II 1
Chang 7 Member black shale
Lacustrine
Cretaceous Qingshankou
Songliao Basin 0.50–4.50 0.60–1.20 I–II1
Formation black shale

part of the basin, Xinbei Oilfield has produced from the shale
fracture type reservoir for over 10 years and the cumulative
oil production exceeded 3×104 t. Source rock in other basins
like Ordos and Bohai Gulf Basin also developed shale oil.
Shale oil is another area of “source rock oil” after shale gas,
which should be paid much attention to.
3.2 Key geochemical parameters and its correlation with
shale storage capacity
For self-generation and self-storage shale gas reservoirs,
their organic geochemical parameters, such as organic matter
abundance and maturity, are closely related to the gas bearing
property of shale reservoirs and the development of storage
space. In North America, the shale gas volume has a positive
correlation with TOC value and the I and II type kerogens
often have high adsorption capability[29]. The experiment test
data of high-over mature marine shale from Sichuan Basin
also proved that those with higher TOC value would have
more abundant gas and would be more favorable shale reser-
voirs.
When maturity increases, the cracking of kerogen and oil
will generate a large amount of hydrocarbon. Besides gener-
ating oil and gas and providing rich material source for con-
ventional oil/gas reservoirs, the organic matter itself can gen-
erate nano-scale pore space of about 5–200 nm[30]. During the
study on Cambrian-Silurian high- and over-mature marine
shale reservoirs in Sichuan Basin, the authors, for the first
time, found that the bottom of these two formations has high
organic matter abundance and large gas volume. Moreover, a
lot of micro-pores or nano-scale pores formed within the dis-
persive and laminated “organic matter grains” (Fig. 5). Some
large pores are about 3–4 ȝm and some small ones are even
several nanometers. Most of them are over 100–200 nm,
which means that they can provide enough storage space for
shale gas accumulation. This strongly indicates that the tight
marine shale in Southern China has good storage conditions
and thus has good E&P potential in formations and areas that
has high organic matter abundance.
In Australian Beetaloo Basin, shale gas was discovered in
the oldest formation on earth (about 14×108 a)—Proterozoic.
The TOC value is 4%, Ro value is 3.49%, and estimated shale
gas resources are 5600×108 m3.
4 Forming mechanism of shale gas and reservoir
characteristics
4.1 Forming mechanism of shale gas
The forming mechanism of shale gas is on site “retention
reservoiring”, distributed in continuous pattern. Methane infill
sequentially in the shale micro-pores (pore radius less than 2
nm), and is adsorbed to capillary to gather in multi-layer me-
dium pores (pore radius 2–50 nm), and it occurs in a com-
pressed or dissolute state in large pores (pore radius large than
50 nm). During the biochemical gas generation phase, natural
gas or oil cracking gas initially adsorbed on the organic matter
or rock grain surface or accumulated within the organic pore
space and stayed there until saturated. Then, the over-satura-
ted natural gas experienced primary migration in free phase or
dissolved phase to the pore space of the overlying inorganic
shale interval. Part of it will be stored within the intergranular
and intragranular pores or fractures in free phase. After
re-saturation, part of the natural gas will be migrated to con-
ventional reservoir rock through secondary migration and
form conventional gas reservoir (Fig. 6)[31,32].
4.2 Rock mineral composition
Fragile mineral content is an important factor that affects
the shale matrix pore space and micro-fracture development,
gas-bearing property and fracturing stimulation pattern. The
lower the clay content, the higher the brittle mineral content
(e.g. quartz, feldspar, calcite etc.) and the higher brittleness
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653

a—Near circular micro-pores within organic matter in Longmaxi Formation black shale, Xin-1 well, Sichuan Basin;
b—Nano-scale pores within the organic matter dispersed between illite and pyrite in Longmaxi Formation black shale, Xin-1 well, Sichuan Basin;
c, d—Nano-scale pores within dispersive and laminated organic matter in Longmaxi Formation black shale, Wei-201 well, Sichuan Basin;
e, f—Nano-scale pores within organic matter dispersed between pyrite crystalline in Jiulaodong Formation sandy shale, Wei-201 well;
g, h—Intergranular organic matter micro- and nano-scale pores in Jiulaodong Formation sandy shale, Wei-201 Well
Fig. 5 Organic matter micro-and nano-scale pore distribution features of Lower Paleozoic shale in Sichuan Basin
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653

ment of shale gas. For shale that has commercial development

potential, its fragile mineral content is over 40% and clay
content should be less than 30%.

4.3 Porosity and permeability characteristics and micro-

Fig. 6 Shale gas forming mechanism of on site “retention reser-
voiring”
would be. And, under external forces, it will be even easier to
form natural fractures and induced fractures and form
tree–network shaped fractures, which are favorable for shale
gas development. On the contrary, shale with high clay con-
tent often has high ductility and can absorb energy to form
tabular fractures, which are not favorable for shale stimulation
operation. In America, the quartz content of gas producing
shale is 28%–52%, carbonate content is 4%–16%, and total
fragile mineral content is 46%–60%. The authors studied the
mineral composition of three different types of shale in China
and concluded that, no matter marine shale, ma-
rine-terrigenous alternated carbonaceous shale or lacustrine
shale, the fragile mineral content is generally high, mostly
over 40%. For example, the quartz content of Paleozoic ma-
rine shale in the Upper Yangtze area is 24.3%–52.0%, feldspar
content is 4.3%–32.3%, calcite content is 8.5%–16.9% and
total fragile mineral content is 40%–80% (Table 7, Fig. 7).
The clay content of Xujiahe Formation in Sichuan Basin is
15%–78% and the average value is about 50% while the frag-
ile mineral content (quartz, feldspar etc.) is 22%–85% and the
average value is about 50%. In Ordos Basin, the quartz con-
tent of Upper Paleozoic coal-bearing carbonaceous shale is
32%–54% with average value of 48%, and the total fragile
mineral content is 40%–58%. The quartz content of Mesozoic
lacustrine shale in Ordos Basin is 27%–47% with average value
of 40%, and the total fragile mineral content is 58%–70%.
Rock mineral composition is crucial for the later develop-
fractures
4.3.1 Porosity and permeability characteristics
Rock pore space is important space for oil/gas storage and a
key parameter to determine the free gas volume. Statistic data
indicates that about 50% of the shale gas is stored in matrix
pore space within shale rock. Shale reservoir belongs to ul-
tra-low porosity and permeability reservoir and is character-
ized by different types of micro-pores or even nano-scale pore
space, including intergranular micro-pores, inter-layer mi-
cro-pores, grain dissolved pores, dissolved matrix inner pores,
intragranular dissolved pore space and organic matter pore
space etc. Pore size is mostly less than 2 ȝm, organic matter
pore throats are mostly 100-200 nm, has high surface to vol-
ume ratios and complicated textures. The large inner surface
area can store a large amount of gas in adsorption pattern[33].
The matrix porosity of shale rock is about 0.5%–6.0% and the
median value is mostly 2%–4%. The measurement of Huay-
ingshan Hongyan Coal Mine Longmaxi Formation and
Qiongzhusi Formation in the Weiyuan area in Sichuan Basin
indicates that the Longmaxi Formation shale porosity is
2.43%–15.72% with the average value of 4.83%. The
Qiongzhusi Formation shale porosity is 0.34%–8.10% with
the average value of 3.02%. The measured porosity of Meso-
zoic lacustrine shale from Ordos Basin is 0.4%–1.5% and
permeability is 0.012×103–0.653×103 ȝm2.
Marine facies organic rich shale in China has well-devel-
oped nano-scale pore space (Fig. 5). It contains both inter-
granular pores and intragranular pores and organic matter
pores. The nano-scale micro-pores formed after the organic
matter was mature can be major pore space for shale gas
storage.
4.3.2 Micro-fractures
The development of fractures can provide enough storage
space for shale gas, and can also provide migration pathway
and effectively enhance shale gas production[2]. Shale perme-

Table 7 Geological property comparison between shale from North America and Sichuan Basin
Effective Quartz Porosity Gas content Resource abun-
Shale Epoch Depth/m TOC/% Ro/%
thickness/m content/% /% /(m3·t1) dance/(104 m3·km2)
Barnett Miss. 1 981–2 926 30.00–183.00 2.00–7.00 1.10–2.00 35–50 4.00–5.00 8.50–9.91 7.15
Fayetteville Miss. 305–2 287 6.10–76.20 2.00–9.80 1.20–>4.00 2.00–8.00 1.70–6.23 6.30
Haynesville J3 3 048–4 115 616.00–91.44 0.50–4.00 2.20–3.20 8.00–9.00 2.83–9.34 8.71
Woodford D3 1 829–3 353 36.58–67.10 1.00–14.00 1.10–3.00 60–80 3.00–9.00 5.66–8.50 2.29
Antrim D3 183–732 21.00–37.00 1.00–20.00 0.40–0.60 20–41 9.00 1.13–2.83 0.69
Lewis K2 914–1 829 61.00–91.00 0.45–2.50 1.60–1.90 3.00–55.00 0.40–1.30 1.74
Marcellus D2 475–2 591 15.20–304.00 3.00–12.00 1.50–3.00 50–70 10.00 1.70–2.83 1.73
Montney T 400–4 400 30.00 1.20–1.60 1.75–3.75 50–70 5.00–9.50 0.44
Qiongzhusi ȯ1q 2 600–4 600 20.00–80.00 2.30–4.20 1.50–5.70 28–56 1.46–2.61 1.17–6.02 0.90–2.30
Longmaxi S1l 1 600–4 200 20.00–100.00 1.60–3.60 1.88–4.36 24–44 1.00–5.00 1.73–3.28 1.00–2.50
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653
Fig. 7 Lower Paleozoic mineral composition in Sichuan Basin
ability will be very low without fracture development. Quartz
content is an important factor of influencing fracture devel-
opment. Quartz-rich black shale has good brittleness, thus, the
fracture development is better than calcite-rich shale[34]. Nel-
son stated that feldspar and dolomite are also fragile composi-
tions besides quartz[35]. Shale often has high clay mineral
content, but dark organic-rich shale generally has low clay
mineral content. In shale gas exploration, we should look for
shale that can be fractured, which means that the shale clay
content should be low enough (<50%) and fragile mineral
content should be high to make it easy to fracture.
Marine shale, marine-terrigenous alternated carbonaceous
shale and lacustrine shale in China all have good brittleness.
The field geologic profile and downhole core observation
found well-developed fracture systems. For example, Cam-
brian Qiongzhusi Formation and Silurian Longmaxi Forma-
tion black shale in the Upper Yangtze area is brittle and hard,
with well-developed joints and fractures distributed in net-
work shape in 3D space. The rock thin section shows that the
micro-fractures are as slender as hair and are partially filled
by calcite, bitumen and other secondary minerals. Mi-
cro-fracture network can also be observed in the Upper Pa-
leozoic Shanxi Formation core section in Ordos Basin. The
Mesozoic Chang 7 Member black shale in Ordos Basin has
well-developed lamellation and will be in thin lamination after
weathering.
4.4 Gas-bearing property
Shale gas area can be divided into core area and outer zone
by its gas concentration. Shale gas concentration, including
free gas, adsorbed gas and dissolved gas, is an important in-
dex to determine whether it has economic benefits and to per-
form resource potential evaluation. Halliburton Corp. pro-
posed that the minimum shale gas concentration for commer-
cial development is 2.8 m3/t. Currently, the minimum shale
gas concentration under development in North America is
about 1.1 m3/t and the highest concentration can reach 9.91
m3/t. The measured gas concentration of Lower Cambrian
Qiongzhusi Formation in Sichuan Basin is 1.17–6.02 m3/t, the
average value is 2.82 m3/t. The gas concentration of Long-
maxi Formation black shale is 1.73–3.28 m3/t, which is com-
parable with the North American gas producing shale and
reaches the lower limit of commercial shale gas development
(Table 7). Since shale gas development in China hasn’t en-
tered into development stage, there are very few shale gas
wells. Thus, we cannot acquire enough shale gas concentra-
tion data. However, according to the old well review result,
the previous wells had a lot of gas shows in the black shale
intervals and experienced well kick and blowout, indicating
good gas concentration at the shale intervals. For example,
among 107 wells that penetrated Qiongzhusi Formation in the
Weiyuan area, Sichuan Basin, 32 of them had 52 gas shows of
different levels. Well Wei-5 even had well blowout when
drilled through the Qiongzhusi Formation shale interval at
2795–2798 m. DST test got 2.46×104 m3 of natural gas. As for
the 15 wells penetrated the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Forma-
tion shale interval in the Southern Sichuan area, there are
good gas shows in 32 intervals. Well Yang-63 penetrated the
Longmaxi Formation shale at the interval of 3 505–3 518 m
and got daily gas production of 3500 m3 during the test.
5 Resources potential and peculiarity
Several scholars and organizations have made prediction on
China shale gas resource potential and the general evaluation
result is optimistic[3638].
Shale gas and conventional gas have obvious differences,
not only including geologic uncertainty, but also development
risk, especially; the determination of recovery ratio mainly
relies on well control data. Therefore, objective and accurate
prediction of shale gas resource potential is full of challenge.
China shale gas E&P is still at starting phase there are very
limited data available for the prediction of shale gas resource
potential. Although the development scale and shale quality of
organic rich shale in different areas have great similarity, the
generation and accumulation of shale gas in different areas
still have lots of differences due to the complicated tectonic
 Zou Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2010, 37(6): 641–653
evolution, depositional environment and geothermal evolution
process in China. The Paleozoic marine organic-rich shale has
wide distribution, large continuous thickness and high organic
matter abundance. However, it also has high evolution degree
and experienced several tectonic events with many changes.
The Mesozoic lacustrine organic-rich shale has large lateral
variation and its lithology is mainly thick shale or sandstone
and shale interbeds. The organic matter abundance is medium
and thermal maturity is low. Therefore, we estimated the shale
gas resource potential in China based on geologic correlation.
The favorable distribution area of Paleozoic marine organic
shale in China is 63×104–90×104 km2. The favorable area of
Mesozoic lacustrine organic rich shale is 23×104–33×104 km2,
effective shale thickness is 20300 m, TOC content is
0.50%–25.71%, Ro value is 0.8%–4.5%, and the predicted
shale gas resources are 30×1012–100×1012 m8. These predic-
tion data are all preliminary results. The development tech-
nologies and economically recoverable shale gas reserves in
China are still under study.
Currently, China has initiated several promising shale gas
pilot production projects in Southern Sichuan Basin. The un-
dergoing preliminary evaluation on the mid-lower Yangtze
area, Ordos Basin, Tarim Basin and Songliao Basin will select
favorable shale gas replacement areas. Shale gas has impor-
tant significance in mitigating the short-supply status of
China’s natural gas market, changing energy structure and
guaranteeing national energy security. It will also have im-
portant scientific value on theoretical innovation of petroleum
geology and E&P technology improvement.
Compared with the North American shale gas, China’s
shale gas has three distinctive features: (1) Marine shale has
high thermal evolution degree (Ro value is 2.5%–5.0%) and
tectonic movements were frequent. We need to find areas that
have favorable preservation conditions and avoid outcrop
zones and fault damage zones; (2) Lacustrine shale has low
thermal evolution degree and high heterogeneity, thus, it re-
quires pertinent technologies for effective development; (3)
The surface condition is mainly mountainous area and the
burial depth is large (5 0007 000 m), thus, proper technolo-
gies for cost reduction is required. Therefore, shale gas E&P
in China should pay attention to some special geologic condi-
tions, such as complicated surface, burial depth and later
preservation. For example, the deep burial depth of marine
shale in Tarim Basin, the preservation problem of Southern
China shale after exposure, and the challenging mountainous
surface condition during development stage. Thus, it should to
strengthen the optimization and economic evaluation of core
areas.
6 Conclusions
Three different types of organic-rich black shale, including
marine facies, marine-terrigenous alternated facies and lacus-
trine facies, all distributed widely onshore China and all fulfill
the basic geologic condition for shale gas generation. They
share a lot of similarities but also have their own uniqueness.
So, during the E&P practice, they should be treated based on
their own conditions. Paleozoic shale is mainly marine depo-
sition and has stable regional distribution. The thickness is
large and the organic matter is abundant and the evolution
degree is high. A lot of gas shows were discovered. It can be
practical areas for shale gas exploration and development.
The carbonaceous shale and coal beds developed in the
Carboniferous-Permian and Triassic-Jurassic coal series have
high TOC content and are associated with sandstone. Shale
gas and tight gas are distributed continuously. Mesozoic
lacustrine shale is mainly thick-layered shale with low matur-
ity and continuously-distributed oil shale and tight oil.
Source rock hydrocarbon is a new area, including shale oil,
shale gas, coal bed gas etc. with the forming mechanism of on
site “retention reservoiring”. Shale gas can be developed si-
multaneously with the underlying and overlying tight sand gas
and coal bed methane to improve its production and efficiency.
The drilling data and outcrop data indicate that Sichuan
Basin developed several sets of shale gas intervals, including
marine facies, marine-terrigenous alternated facies and lacus-
trine facies. It can be the most practical area for shale gas ex-
ploration and development. The Paleozoic shale interval has
abundant 100–200 nm nanometer scale pore space and thus
high shale gas saturation. The Weiyuan-Changning area, in the
mid-southern part of the basin, is favorable area for shale gas
accumulation and can be one of the most important core areas
for future exploration and development. It also needs to
strengthen the optimization of core area and economic evalua-
tion of other basins in China.
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the significant contribution to shale gas
study made by Hu Suyun, Zhu Rukai, Liang Digang, Li Jin-
chao, Zhang Shiben, Gao Xiaohui, Tao Shizhen, Huang Ling,
Huang Jinliang, Yuan Xuanjun, Hou Lianhua, Jia Jinhua, Lü
Weining and Tanghui. We thank Dai Jinxing (Academician)
for the helpful review comments, and thank Qiu Zhongjian,
Jia Chengzao, Zhao Zhengzhang, Wang Daofu, Zhao Wenzhi,
Ma Xinhua and other academicians and experts for their sup-
port. Thanks also go to Chen Gengsheng, Wang Shiqian,
Wang Lansheng, Lü Zonggang and other experts from
Southwest Oil Gas Company.
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