Geologic characteristics of hydrocarbon-bearing marine, transitional and lacustrine shales in China

Jiang, Shu; Zhao, Xu; Feng, Yongyong; Zhang, Jinchuan; Cai, Dongsheng; Chen, Lei; Wu, Yue; Zhou, Dongsheng; Bao, Shujing; Long, Shengxiang

doi:10.1016/j.jseaes.2015.10.016

Cited by 96 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…It consists of thick Precambrian to Silurian marine shales and Triassic to Jurassic lacustrine shales. Recently, commercial shale gas production began from the Silurian Longmaxi marine shale in the Fuling Shale Gas Field located in SE Sichuan Basin (Jiang 2014;Jiang et al 2015Jiang et al , 2016. Tight gas, shale gas, tight oil, and shale oil also have been sporadically produced from the Triassic Xujiahe and Jurassic Ziliujing Formations.…”

Section: Hybrid Plays Within Jurassic Carbonatecontaining Source Rockmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In China, lacustrine shales were deposited across a wide variety of tectonic and depositional environments both onshore and offshore since the early Permian (Huang et al 2015;Jiang et al 2015Jiang et al , 2016. Due to the relatively smaller size of lacustrine water bodies, lakes experience higher rates of environmental change compared to marine systems, resulting in small reservoir bodies characterized by rapid lateral and vertical facies changes, sensitivity to climate, broad ranges of salinity, pH, etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Besides the successful development of Silurian marine Longmaxi shale gas in Sinopec's Fuling Shale Gas Field in the SE Sichuan Basin (Jiang 2014), Chinese companies have been exploring onshore unconventional hydrocarbon plays in the mature lacustrine basins of China in order to meet and maintain oil and gas production needs. Even with this dedicated effort, the lacustrine shale gas and shale oil exploration and production are moving slowly since lacustrine shales in China are clayrich, heterogeneous with a high wax content and have poor hydrocarbon flow capacity compared to marine shale (Jiang et al 2013b(Jiang et al , 2014(Jiang et al , 2016Li et al 2013a;Jiang 2014;Katz and Lin 2014). More studies on lacustrine shale are needed to help find more realistic exploration and production models.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Due to the overwhelming focus and priority of business decisions to target shale plays, E&P targeting thin sandstone, siltstone and Table 1 Historical production rates from naturally fractured shales in lacustrine basins in China (compiled from Li et al 2006;Jiu et al 2013;Zhang et al 2014 carbonate interbeds within lacustrine shales seems to have been ignored previously, just as the shale plays were historically ignored in the tight sandstone oil and gas play exploration focus areas. Our recent detailed investigation of shale gas and shale oil plays in China found that the source rock intervals in China's lacustrine basins are highly heterogeneous, having dominantly organic-rich shale source rock with thin interbeds of organic-lean siltstone, sandstone and carbonates (Jiang et al 2015(Jiang et al , 2016. For the most part, these thin zones within the source rock interval received only minor attention in the past since hydrocarbons do not flow without stimulation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiple-stacked Hybrid Plays of lacustrine source rock intervals: Case studies from lacustrine basins in China

et al. 2017

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Hydrocarbon-producing lacustrine basins are widely developed in the world, and China has a large number of lacustrine basins that have developed since the early Permian. The organic-rich shale-dominated heterogeneous source rock intervals in Chinese lacustrine basins generally contain frequent thin interbeds of stratigraphically associated sandstone, siltstone, marl, dolomite, and limestone. The concept of ''Hybrid Plays'' as put forth in this article recognizes this pattern of alternating organicrich shale and organic-lean interbeds and existence of mixed unconventional and conventional plays. Hybrid Plays in lacustrine source rock intervals present a unique closed petroleum system hosting continuous hydrocarbons. The interbedded organic-lean siliciclastic and/or carbonate plays are efficiently charged with hydrocarbons via short migration pathways from the adjacent organic-rich shale that is often also a self-sourced play. We assert ''Hybrid Plays'' provide the most realistic exploration model for targeting multiple-stacked and genetically related very tight shale, tight and conventional plays together in the entire source rock interval rather than individual plays only. The Hybrid Play model has been proven and works for a wide variety of lacustrine rift, sag and foreland basins in China.

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Section: Hybrid Plays Within Jurassic Carbonatecontaining Source Rockmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiple-stacked Hybrid Plays of lacustrine source rock intervals: Case studies from lacustrine basins in China

et al. 2017

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“…Thus far, most research and exploration breakthroughs for shale gas in China have focused on the Lower Silurian shale of the Middle and Upper Yangtze regions (Dai et al, ; Jiang et al, ; Li, Jiang, Zheng, Bi, & Chen, ; Wang et al, ; Yan et al, ; Zou et al, , , ). As a part of the Yangtze Platform, the neighbouring Lower Yangtze region has attracted much less interests in searching shale gas potentials (but see Du et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Lower Yangtze area: A next shale gas block for China? Preliminary potential assessment from some geology and organic geochemistry information

Chen

et al. 2019

Geological Journal

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In the last several years, the massive success of the Fuling shale gas field in south‐western China has shown great potential in finding giant shale gas fields in the Upper Yangtze area, and it has also attracted the increasing attention from geologists to find more shale gas reservoirs around the world. However, there is still a great dispute as to whether the neighbouring Lower Yangtze area is a next potential shale gas block in China. In this study, we evaluate preliminarily the shale gas potentials of five important sets of marine shales based on systematic analyses for the sedimentary environment, thickness, total organic carbon (TOC), thermal maturity, and other organic geochemistry parameters of both geological records from outcrops and wells in the Lower Yangtze area. The first two sets of marine shales occur in the Lower Cambrian and the Ordovician, and they all are of over–high organic maturity due to strong effects from regional tectonic movements and thus have poor potential. Although the Lower Silurian shales are widely distributed in the Lower Yangtze region, a terrigenous delta, a low amount of organic matter (TOC < 1.2%), and late tectonic activity together created unfavourable conditions for the generation and accumulation of the Lower Silurian shale gas. The Permian black shales occur in the Middle and Upper Permian. Several proxies, such as the appropriate maturity (vitrinite reflectance Ro of approximately 2.0%), abundant organic matter (TOC of approximately 4 wt%), good total hydrocarbon potential (S1 + S2), and high level of hydrocarbon conversion have resulted in good conditions for shale gas generation. However, the relative thinness (only 30 m), severe tectonic modification, and regional cap rock are not favourable for shale gas preservation. The Lower Yangtze area therefore is not an excellent block for shale gas exploration compared to its neighbouring Upper Yangtze area. However, in some areas with less structural deformation, the possibility of finding shale gas reservoirs cannot be ruled out, especially for the Permian shales, which had a greater opportunity to generate and accumulate shale gas than the other marine shales. In addition, for new shale gas exploration breakthroughs in the future, structural studies are essential in offering better understanding of the preservation conditions in the Lower Yangtze area.

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Control of sedimentary environment on the lithofacies of lacustrine fine‐grained sedimentary rocks in the second member of the Kongdian Formation in the Cangdong sag, Bohai Bay Basin, China

Fang

Chen

et al. 2022

Geological Journal

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The thick fine‐grained sedimentary rocks in the second member of the Kongdian Formation (Ek2) in the Cangdong sag, Bohai Bay Basin, eastern China, are typical lacustrine source rocks and have recently been regarded as the main target for shale oil exploration. Compared with marine shales, the strong heterogeneity in the mineral composition, structure feature, and vertical association pattern of the Ek2 lacustrine fine‐grained sedimentary rocks in the Cangdong sag is significantly influenced by frequent variations in the sedimentary environment and depositional process. Based on the detailed core and thin‐section description analyses as well as the two‐dimensional X‐ray fluorescence (2D‐XRF) analysis, the Ek2 fine‐grained sedimentary rocks in the Cangdong sag can be classified into six types of lithofacies by employing the content of three main mineral compositions together with structure features, among which five types are mainly deposited, including laminated felsic fine‐grained sedimentary rocks, laminated and massive carbonate fine‐grained sedimentary rocks, and laminated and massive mixed fine‐grained sedimentary rocks. The sedimentary environment during the sedimentary period of the Ek2 in the Cangdong sag was reconstructed by several indexes (including salinity, water depth, redox condition, climate, and detrital input) using the element geochemical parameters. The variations of detrital input and lake physicochemical characteristics driven by climate were vertically divided into four phases, indicating that the lake gradually changed from the transgression to the highstand period. In addition, the water column stratification led to the overall dysoxic–anoxic condition. The depositional process can be interpreted by correlating the lithofacies and the sedimentary environment. The results indicate that the mineral composition is controlled by the detrital input and carbonate production driven by climate and that structural features are mainly affected by the water column stratification. The Ek2 fine‐grained sedimentary rocks in the Cangdong sag present the vertical distribution of lithofacies that matches with the evolution phases of the sedimentary environment. This study's results enhance the understanding of the formation mechanism of lacustrine fine‐grained sedimentary rocks and provide basic geological knowledge for shale oil exploration in the study area.

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Geologic characteristics of hydrocarbon-bearing marine, transitional and lacustrine shales in China

Cited by 96 publications

References 25 publications

Multiple-stacked Hybrid Plays of lacustrine source rock intervals: Case studies from lacustrine basins in China

Multiple-stacked Hybrid Plays of lacustrine source rock intervals: Case studies from lacustrine basins in China

The Lower Yangtze area: A next shale gas block for China? Preliminary potential assessment from some geology and organic geochemistry information

Control of sedimentary environment on the lithofacies of lacustrine fine‐grained sedimentary rocks in the second member of the Kongdian Formation in the Cangdong sag, Bohai Bay Basin, China

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