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Shale oil being developed on large scale on Qinghai-Xizang Plateau

Global Times

By GT staff reporters Published: Mar 29, 2022 07:52 PM

Shale oil is being developed on a large scale on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau for the first time, as a pilot project with an initial capacity of 100,000 tons was established on Monday. Experts hailed it as an important move to guarantee China's energy security.

"This is the first exploration and development of shale oil project on Northwest China's Qinghai-Xizang Plateau. The current oil-bearing area is 42 square kilometers and is expected to yield considerable reserves and provide long-term support for energy security," Zhang Qinghui, a manager of the project, told the China News Service.

An opening ceremony was held on the same day to celebrate the first shale oil production demonstration zone being officially established in Mangya, Northwest China's Qinghai Province. The project is being developed by the Qinghai branch of PetroChina Co.

The demonstration zone has eight horizontal wells on a large flat platform, with four drilling rigs operating at the same time, local news media reported.

The shale oil, which lies less than 5,000 meters below Earth's surface, has an area of nearly 150 square kilometers, which means the oil can be explored and developed continuously, Zhao Jian, another manager from the project, told the China News Service.

In the pilot phase, the project will provide 100,000 tons of shale oil, and as it progresses, it will be developed into a shale oil production zone with a capacity of 1 million tons annually, Zhao said.

Lin Boqiang, director of the China Center for Energy Economics Research at Xiamen University, told the Global Times on Tuesday that this is an important move to guarantee the country's energy security, especially given that 73 percent of China's oil was imported in recent years and uncertainties are on the rise due to international geopolitics.

Besides, the exploration and development of shale oil on the Qinghai-Xizang Plateau will help speed up the regional economy, Lin said.

According to Zhang, the biggest difference between shale oil and other oil reservoirs is that oil in other reservoirs normally comes out of wells like spring water. But shale oil is very dense and concentrated in micro-nano pores, so it will only flow out through a process known as fracking.