Chinese Oil Shale_Geology Part

China was blessed by the abundant resources of oil shale. Based on USGS data in 2005, China has about 240 billion ton resources which can produce approximately seven billion oils. Oil shale in China for study purposes can be grouped into five regions, Eastern, Central, Western, Southern and Qinghai-Tibet area. There are 47 basins which contain about 719 billion tons oil shale resources. Twelve billion tons are recoverable after considering technology, economic and losses from oil shale development and carbonization. It equals to about 90 billion barrels of oil. Oil shale is mainly distributed in eastern China which takes 35% of total resources. Typical Fischer Assay yield of China’s oil shale is 7 - 14% (Table I).

Figure 1. China’s oil Shale Map.(Courtesy of Liu, Z.J. et all, 2008)

Table I: China’s Fischer Assay Oil Shale Yield

(Dewen, et all, 2007)

Fushun, Liaoning ProvinceFushun oil shale is located in northeastern part of China in Liaoning Province. It It is found to co-exist with the coal layers in the Guchengzi formation. This formation has 20 to 145 m and average 55 m in thickness. On top of it, thicker layer of shale from lacustrine origin with 48 to 190 m and average 115 m in thickness (Jijuntun formation. Total estimated mineable resources are 3600 million ton with the average oil yield about 7%. Open pit construction is preferable in the Fushun due to its low cost and shallow formation. In addition some underground mining also existed from the beginning of extraction. The calorific value of Fushun oil shale is 3.51 MJ/kg of oil shale (Qian et all., 2006).

Figure 2: North-South stratigraphic cross section through the West Open Pit coal mine without Vertical Scale, (Johnson, 1990).

Figure 3: Generalized stratigraphic section without scale, (Johnson, 1990).

Maoming, Guangdong ProvinceMaoming oil shale lies in two formations from tertiary age, Youganwo and Shangcun (Figure. 4 and 5). The Fisher assay of oil shale yield 4 to 12 percent with average 7% with total estimated resources are 4.1 billion ton of oil shale (Qian, et all. 2006). Oil shale of Youganwo formation is chocolate-brown to puce. It is made up of siallite and a little organic material. According to type of genesis, it can be divided into heavy layer half-deep lake facies oil shale and interbed with coal limnestic facies oil shale. The typical calorific value of Maoming oil shale is 5.02 MJ/kg of oil shale.

Figure 4: Northeast – Southwest cross section of Maoming oil shale. (Courtesy of Wei, Z.J. et all, CERI poster)

Figure 5: Stratigraphic of Maoming Basin. (Courtesy of Wei, Z.J. et all, CERI poster)

Other basins in the Central, Western and Qinghai-Tibet area are being on exploration and studies state. Those three areas make up 65 % of the total China’s oil shale resources. It can be concluded that the oil development in China is still under-developed. It is possible caused by less competitive to cheaper production cost of conventional oil and gas developments.

Mineral characteristic of China’s oil shale mainly contain of quartz, feldspar and clay minerals. Kaolinite is the higher content in the clay. It is totally different with the typical marine oil shale (eg. Estonia oil shale) which has carbonate as the most component in clay minerals. The types of organic matter of China’s oil shale mainly type I and type II (Table II).

Table II: Various Type of Organic Matter in China’s Oil Shale

Sample Areas Province Vitrinite Reflectance, RO (%)

Types of Organic MatterTmax (oC)

Dalianhe Heilongjiang 0.46 II2 423Luozigou Jilin 0.48 I-II1 437Fushun Liaoning 0.49 I 443

Maoming Guangdong 0.51 I-II1 428Tongchuan Shanxi 0.51 II2 432Sangonghe Xinjiang 0.51 II1 435

(Courtesy of Liu, Z.J. et all, 2008)

It can be inferred from above table that China’s oil shale is categorized as immature up to low-mature stage of thermal evolution.

References:Dewen, Z., Hongyan, W., Jingming, L., Renhe, L., 2007, “Evolution on Development of Daqing Oil Shale in China”, 27th Oil Shale Symposium, Colorado School of Mines, 15-17 October.

Johnson, E.A. 1990. Geology of the Fushun coalfield, Liaoning Province, People’s Republic of China // Intern. J. Coal Geol. 1990. Vol. 14. P. 217–236.

Liu, Z.J. et all, 2008 “Characteristic of Continental Oil Shale and Oil Resources in China”, Petroleum & Basin

Analysis Institute, Jilin University, October 15th.

Qian, J., Wang, J. and Li, S., 2003,”Oil Shale Development in China”, Oil Shale Volume 20 No.3 Special pp. 356-359, Estonian Academy Publisher.

Wei, Z.J., Wei, Z.D. Chao, L.D., Min, G., Rong, Y.H., “Resource Status and Development Application Stratagem of Oil Shale in Maoming Basin”, Colorado Energy and Research Institute (CERI) poster.