Shale oil demonstration zone beats annual target

China's first national-level onshore shale oil demonstration zone has reached its annual crude output target of 1.7 million metric tons as of Tuesday, finishing 22 days ahead of schedule, according to an announcement on the China National Petroleum Corporation's official website.

The Jimsar shale oil demonstration zone in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region was jointly approved by the National Energy Administration and the Ministry of Natural Resources in 2020. Covering 1,278 square kilometers, it holds resource reserves exceeding 1 billion tons.

Shale oil — an unconventional resource internationally recognized as extremely difficult to extract — is characterized by deep reservoir burial and ultralow permeability, often compared to squeezing oil from a whetstone. The Jimsar reservoir lies at depths greater than 3,800 meters, with permeability at just one ten-thousandth that of conventional reservoirs.

Du Xuebiao, manager of the Jiqing oilfield operation area at PetroChina Xinjiang Oilfield Co, said the demonstration zone's performance underscores China's systematic breakthroughs in overcoming world-class challenges in onshore shale oil, including sweet-spot identification, reservoir stimulation and cost-effective extraction.

The zone has established a comprehensive technological system for onshore shale oil exploration and development, incorporating more than 40 industry standards and more than 30 core technologies. Officials said it has significantly improved full-life-cycle production per well, raising output from 24,000 to 36,000 tons, and has enhanced operational efficiency, enabling large-scale and profitable development.

The achievements are expected to be replicated in other domestic shale oil projects to reinforce China's crude oil self-sufficiency, a move viewed as strategically important for optimizing the national energy mix and safeguarding energy security.

Shale oil resources are currently distributed across 75 basins in 21 countries, with China ranking third globally in terms of recoverable reserves.