Assessment methods and potential of shale oil resources in China

Abstract

In view of the large differences in type classification, assessment methods, evaluation parameters and resource potential prediction of shale oil in China, shale oil is classified into three categories: interlayer shale oil, pure shale oil and in-situ converted shale oil. According to the obviously different occurrence and formation characteristics of the three types of shale oil, the corresponding resource calculation method models, respectively named volume method, volume method based on pyrolysed hydrocarbon S1 content and hydrocarbon generation quantity method based on hydrogen index variation, were put forward, and the key parameters and their lowest threshold standards of each model were determined. Finally, the three categories of shale oil resources in the major basins in China were evaluated according to the unified parameter criterion. The in-place resources of pure shale oil, interlayer shale oil and in-situ converted shale oil are 145.4×108 t, 95.1×108 t and 708.2×108 t, respectively, and the recoverable resources are 9.4×108 t, 7.1×108 t and 460.3×108 t, respectively. The evaluation results show that China is rich in shale oil resources, which is an important replacement field to promote domestic crude oil production increase and stabilization.

Keywords

• parameter criterion
• resource assessment method
• resource potential
• interlayer shale oil
• pure shale oil
• in-situ converted shale oil