China certifies 147,000,000 barrels of oil in Sinopec's shale fields

Sinopec Corp., a Chinese company, announced on Thursday that the Chinese government had certified geological reserves of 20.1 millions metric tons (147 million barrels) in a new shale-play the company operates in Southwest China.

Sinopec announced that the Ministry of Natural Resources has also certified 12,35 billion cubic meters of geological reserves at Fuxing Field, located in Chongqing's municipality.

Fuxing, located on the southern rim of Sichuan Basin and with its first successful exploration well being drilled in 2021, marked a major breakthrough in shale exploration in an area traditionally rich in gas.

Sinopec announced that it would continue to explore and evaluate similar deposits in Sichuan Basin, based on improved technology and a better understanding of geology.

Sinopec has been increasing exploration and production of shale oils in recent years. Sinopec operates China's largest commercial shale-gas field.

Sinopec also has two other shale plays. Xinxing is located in the Jiyang trough in the Bohai Bay Basin and Qintong in the Subei Basin in East China. These two discoveries have combined geological resources of 1.3 billion bbls.

Shale oil is still one of the most difficult and expensive types of oil to produce and explore, despite its huge potential. Production has remained small.

Sinopec produced 705,000 tons of shale crude oil last year, which is 5.15 million barrels. By 2030, it aims to produce 2 million tons of oil per year or 40,000 barrels of oil per day. This would represent less than 1% the total production of national crude. (Reporting and editing by Tom Hogue; Chen Aizhu)

(source: Reuters)