The cumulative production of natural gas in China's largest oil and gas field has exceeded 600 billion cubic meters, and there is still potential for sustained production
CCTV News: Today, China National Petroleum Corporation announced that China's largest oil and gas field, Changqing Oilfield, has recently produced over 600 billion cubic meters of natural gas, making it the first large gas field in China to produce over 600 billion cubic meters. Equivalent to the total consumption of natural gas in China for two years, it can replace 720 million tons of standard coal and reduce carbon emissions by 1.657 billion tons. It plays an important role in optimizing the national energy structure and improving the ecological environment.
What you are seeing now is the largest natural gas extraction well group located in Changqing Oilfield in the Ordos Basin. Currently, 23 wells here are collecting natural gas from a depth of 3000 meters underground. There are over 20000 gas wells like this in the entire gas area, with an average daily production of over 140 million cubic meters.
Changqing Oilfield is a typical low permeability, low pressure, and low abundance "three low" oil and gas field, with 70% of it being extremely difficult to develop tight gas. Advanced technology and low-cost models must be adopted for extraction, otherwise the benefits cannot be guaranteed.
Li Zhanming, Executive Director of PetroChina Changqing Oilfield: We have broken through the core technology of low permeability, ultra-low permeability, and tight gas field exploration and development, successfully explored 4 trillion cubic meters of atmospheric areas under the "three low" conditions, built 14 gas fields, and increased natural gas production by over 2 billion cubic meters annually.
Over the past 10 years, the tight gas recovery rate in Changqing Oilfield has increased by 15%.
Li Zhanming, Executive Director of China Petroleum Changqing Oilfield: Currently, we have built China's first atmospheric zone with an annual output of 50 billion cubic meters, maintaining its position as the largest gas production area in the country for 12 consecutive years.
According to calculations, the natural gas produced by Changqing Oilfield accounts for a quarter of the total domestic gas production each year. It is supplied to more than 40 large and medium-sized cities through more than 10 national natural gas main pipelines such as the West East Gas Pipeline and the Shaanxi Beijing Pipeline, ensuring the daily gas consumption of nearly 400 million people.
Key technological breakthroughs still have potential for sustained production growth
The geological conditions in the Ordos Basin where Changqing Oilfield is located are relatively poor, making extraction very difficult. The average daily gas production of a single well is only one percent of that of a high-yield gas field in China. Under such conditions, how can we build the first atmospheric zone and become China's first large gas field with a cumulative production of over 600 billion cubic meters? Continue to read the report.
In the process of natural gas development, Changqing Oilfield innovatively utilizes the three-dimensional seismic technology of the Loess Plateau, which is equivalent to performing high-precision CT on the strata, achieving precise discovery of underground natural gas resources. At the same time, using fracturing technology to press out millions of fractures in hard formations, allowing natural gas to be quickly released.
Xie Yonggang, Vice President of China Petroleum Changqing Oilfield Oil and Gas Technology Research Institute: We have mastered the technology of optimizing and fast drilling in horizontal wells, which can guide the drill bit to turn at a depth of more than 3000 meters underground, cross the formation for 4-5 kilometers, and freely traverse the hard rock thousands of meters underground like a "greedy snake", accurately "hitting" the gas reservoir.
It took 21 years for the natural gas production of Changqing Oilfield to reach the first 100 billion cubic meters, while it only took 13 years to achieve the goal of increasing from 100 billion cubic meters to 600 billion cubic meters. At present, the net annual growth of Changqing Oilfield exceeds 2 billion cubic meters, setting a record for the fastest increase in gas field production in China.
Wang Jiping, a first-class engineer in gas field development geology at China Petroleum Changqing Oilfield Exploration and Development Research Institute: The accumulation of resource advantages and breakthroughs in key technologies have allowed us to have the potential for sustainable production on the basis of an annual output of 50 billion cubic meters. Next, we will accelerate the exploration of new natural gas fields and the construction of trial production areas, and explore more scale efficient development models.
This year, the drilling and testing progress of Changqing Oilfield has increased by 11% compared to the same period last year. It is expected that 2362 gas wells will be put into operation throughout the year, with an additional daily natural gas production of 32 million cubic meters. The peak daily gas production is expected to reach over 160 million cubic meters.
