PetroChina announced a giant shale oil field has been approved in the Ordos Basin in 2019. Qingcheng Field, located in the southwest of the basin, has been approved 358 million tons (2.5 bn bbls) of oil in place in the Triassic Chang 7 Formation, with 693 million tons (4.9 bn bbls) of P3 oil in place, which indicated a 1 bn tons (7 bn bbls) scale field discovery.   The Qingcheng field has been on development and it will be produced at a rate of 12,800 b/d of oil in 2019. The field is also expected to reach a production of 60,000 b/d of oil in the next few years.   The Yanchang 7 Formation is the main source rocks in the Ordos Basin. Since 2011, PetroChina has started exploration for shale oil in the Chang 7 Formation. In 2014 the company confirmed XinâAnbian shale oil field with approved 700 MMb of oil in place.   The Yanchang Formation is the most favorable oil-generating source rocks in the Ordos Basin, dominated with lacustrine mudstones and thin siltstones. Dark mudstones of the Yanchang Formation are as thick as 300 m to 400 m with an area of 80,000 sq km. The best source rock is within the Yanchang 7 Unit, single layer thickness of mudstones ranges from 5 m to 25 m, total thickness of mudstones ranges from 10 m to 50 m, maximum can be great than 80 m. The source intervals of the Yanchang 7 Unit have a TOC content ranging from 2% to 5%, bitumen A from 0.3% to 0.5%, and total hydrocarbon value of 1833 ppm to 3503 ppm.   Background Information  The Ordos Basin is the important oil and gas production base for PetroChina, in particularly on unconventional, such as tight gas, tight oil and shale oil. In 2018 PetroChina produced total 23.6 million tons of oil and 38.7 Bcm of gas, the company has target to produce 24 million tons of oil and 42 Bcm of gas in 2020, 28 million tons of oil and 45 Bcm of gas in 2025.
PetroChina announced a giant shale oil field has been approved in the Ordos Basin in 2019. Qingcheng Field, located in the southwest of the basin, has been approved 358 million tons (2.5 bn bbls) of oil in place in the Triassic Chang 7 Formation, with 693 million tons (4.9 bn bbls) of P3 oil in place, which indicated a 1 bn tons (7 bn bbls) scale field discovery.