PetroChina achieved commercial gas flow in a deep shale gas well in the Sichuan Basin on 11 March 2019. Zu 203, a shale gas appraisal well located in Dazu-Yibin block, tested 7.5 MMcf/d of gas in the Longmaxi Formation. The well has a TD of 4,175 m (TVD).   In November 2017 PetroChina made a breakthrough in Zu 201-H1 in the block, tested 3.7 MMcf/d of gas from the Longmaxi Formation below 4,000 m.   In 2018, PetroChina achieved commercial gas flow in second well in the block, Zu 202-H1 tested 16 MMcf/d of gas in the Longmaxi Formation below 3,900 m.   Except Dazu block, PetroChina has three shale gas field production blocks, Changning, Weiyuan and Zhaotong blocks, and several exploration blocks in the Sichuan Basin. Overall the company has approved 11 Tcf of gas in place and has completed total 419 shale gas wells, of which 337 wells on stream by end 2018. Â   In 2018 PetroChina produced 4.2 Bcm of shale gas from three fields in the Sichuan Basin. The company has target to produce 12 Bcm by 2020 and 24 Bcm by 2025 in the Sichuan Basin.   Background Information  China produced over 10.2 Bcm of shale gas in 2018, increase 14% from 9 Bcm in 2017. The gas output mainly comes from existing fields in the Sichuan Basin, operated by Sinopec and PetroChina respectively.   PetroChina  PetroChina produced 4.27 Bcm of shale gas in 2018, increased 40% from 3 Bcm in 2017. The gas is all produced in the Sichuan Basin from existing fields Weiyuan, Changing and Zhaotong.   Several new discoveries have been made around these three fields area for the last two years, such as Lu 202, Zi 201, Zu 201 and Huang 202. PetroChina plans to produce 8 Bcm in 2019 and 12 Bcm by 2020, incremental will come from existing fields expansion and these new discoveries.  Sinopec  Sinopec produced 6 Bcm of shale gas from the Jiaoshibas field in the Sichuan Basin, same as in 2017.   In 2018 Sinopec put additional 81 wells on stream in the field and added 5.4 Bcm of gas reserves. Jiaoshiba field has produced cumulative of 21.5 Bcm of shale gas by 2018 since it produced gas in 2012.   Apart from the Jiaoshiba field, Sinopec also has achieved several successes in shale gas exploration drilling in other blocks in the Sichuan Basin, such as Yongchuan, Weiyuan-Rongxian and Dingshan area, in particularly Weiyuan-Rongxian block has been approved 4.4 Tcf of gas in place in 2018.   China has approved cumulative of over 35 Tcf by April 2018. Currently all shale gas fields are found in the Sichuan Basin, such as Jiaoshiba, Weiyuan, Changning, Zhaotong and Weirong.
Deep shale gas well in Dazu-Yibin block, Sichuan Basin, TD 4,175m, early March tested 7.5 MMcfg/d from the Longmaxi Shale.