PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Volume 40, Issue 4, August 2013

Online English edition of the Chinese language journal

Cite this article as: PETROL. EXPLOR. DEVELOP., 2013, 40(4): 413–428. RESEARCH PAPER

Concepts, characteristics, potential and technology of

unconventional hydrocarbons: On unconventional
petroleum geology
ZOU Caineng*, ZHANG Guosheng, YANG Zhi, TAO Shizhen, HOU Lianhua, ZHU Rukai, YUAN Xuanjun,
RAN Qiquan, LI Denghua, WANG Zhiping
PetroChina Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, Beijing 100083, China

Abstract: Petroleum geology is evolving into two branches, conventional petroleum geology and unconventional petroleum geology,
with the latter becoming a new theoretical frontier in the petroleum industry. The core of conventional hydrocarbon geological study is
based on identifying the match between source rock, reservoir, caprock, migration, trap, preservation and timing; the core of unconven-
tional hydrocarbon geological study evaluates if the oil and gas is part of a continuous accumulation, where stress is placed on the evalua-
tion of “lithology, physical properties, brittleness, oiliness, source rock features, stress anisotropy” and their configuration. The oil and
gas accumulation mode and theoretical formula at various low limits of pore throat diameter have been established, as well as the “L”
type production curve. Theoretical production prediction models for unconventional oil and gas, and formation mechanism and develop-
ment patterns for unconventional oil and gas are being revealed. The connotation, characteristics, potential and technology for unconven-
tional oil and gas have been observed, and two key marks to identify unconventional hydrocarbon have been put forward: (1) continuous
distribution of hydrocarbon-bearing reservoirs over a large area, with no obvious trap boundary; and (2) no natural stable industrial pro-
duction, and no obvious Darcy flow. Systematic research shows that the proportion of global unconventional to conventional hydrocarbon
resources is 8:2, in which the unconventional oil is almost equal to conventional oil, and the unconventional gas is about 8 times that of
conventional gas. In China, unconventional oil resources are about 240×108 t and unconventional gas resources are about 100×1012 m3.
In recent years the development of tight gas and tight oil should be strengthened to realize industrial reserves and increase produc-
tion. Construction of shale gas pilot plants and shale oil research should be strengthened. Unconventional oil and gas industrial
systems and research should be set up, including unconventional hydrocarbon geology, fine particle sedimentology, unconven-
tional reservoir geology, seismic reservoir prediction, massive fracturing of horizontal wells, “factory-like” operation, low cost man-
agement and subsidy policy and personnel training.

Key words: unconventional petroleum geology; conventional hydrocarbon geology; unconventional oil and gas industrial system; tight
oil and gas; shale oil and gas

Introduction voir understanding, where geology of unconventional reser-

The world energy structure is entering an age of “petroleum,
natural gas, coal, and new energy coexistence” [1-6]. Uncon-
ventional petroleum is becoming a vital component of global
oil and gas supply now and production of unconventionals
account for nearly 10% of the total global yield. Unconven-
tional oil and gas industrialization will face challenges in the
following 10 aspects: challenge in normal thinking patterns,
we need unconventional philosophy thinking; challenges to
traditional coarse grain sedimentology, fine grain sedimentol-
ogy focusing on shale, carbonate and siltstone geology should
be encouraged; challenges to conventional pore-scale reser-
voirs with nano-scale pores should be set up; challenges to
conventional trap/reservoir theory scenarios, where uncon-
ventional oil and gas geology centered on continuous oil and
gas accumulation should be developed; challenges to conven-
tional geophysics, where the “six properties” evaluation tech-
nique need to be developed; challenges to vertical drilling,
where massive fracturing for horizontal wells needs to be
researched; challenges to improving production methods,
where the “factory-like” operation of horizontal wells should
be established; challenges to polices, where market competi-
tion and subsidy policy should be set up; and challenges to

Received date: 05 Mar. 2013; Revised date: 30 Mar. 2013.

* Corresponding author. E-mail: zcn@petrochina.com.cn
Foundation item: Supported by the National Oil and Gas Major Project “Accumulation Rule, Key Techniques and Target Assessment of Lithologic Oil and Gas
Reservoirs” (2011ZX05001).
Copyright © 2013, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development, PetroChina. Published by Elsevier BV. All rights reserved.
 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428

college education, where innovative talents need to be trained.
Based on systematic review and study of conventional and
unconventional oil and gas theory, technology and latest pro-
gress in exploration and development, combining the latest
major research results in lithologic-stratigraphic reservoirs,
the authors have systematically summed up the basic connota-
tion, main types and characteristics of unconventional oil and
gas, analyzed the status quo and resource potential of uncon-
ventional oil and gas in China and abroad, clarified the core
exploration and development technologies, identified the
strategy and levels of exploration and development, and en-
visaged the future of unconventional oil and gas geology.
1 Background
Since the mid-1990s to now, extensive application of tech-
nologies such as petroleum system evaluation, numerical simu-
lation and reservoir characterization, and inroads in horizontal,
multilateral and extended reach well drilling technologies, as
well as improvement in seismic resolution has brought about
numerous breakthroughs in unconventional petroleum exploi-
tation and utilization, taking global oil and gas equivalent of
production to nearly 70×108 t (Figure 1) [1−10].
Driven by theoretical and technological innovations in the
21st century, breakthroughs have been made one after another
in the exploration and development of global unconventional
oil and gas. Oil sands, heavy oil, tight gas, and coalbed meth-
ane (CBM), for example, have become the major targets in
unconventional petroleum development. At present shale gas
is a major focus in unconventional gas and tight oil is a bright
spot in unconventional oil exploration. As an important com-
ponent in global oil and gas supply, unconventional oil has
already taken up 3% of total oil production and unconven-
tional gas more than 13% of total world gas production in
2010. Two strategic regions for unconventional oil and gas,
the USA in North America and China in Asia, are taking shape
and it is anticipated that the global unconventional oil and gas
yield may account for more than 20% of the total yield by
2030 [1, 6].
The petroleum industry in China has stepped into a phase
which is characterized by peak growth of conventional oil and
gas reserves and production, a strategic breakthrough period
stressing conventional and unconventional oil and gas equally,
and a prime stage of important scientific and technical revolu-
tion and innovation for unconventional oil and gas [1].
In the year 2010, "the very first year of unconventional oil
and gas development" in China, annual tight gas production
accounted for one quarter of the total gas production in China,
tight oil reserves scale in the Ordos and Junggar basins have
amounted to 5×108−10×108 t. Two coalbed methane (CBM)
production bases have been constructed in the southern Qin-
shui Basin and the eastern Ordos Basin, and commercial shale
gas flow has been tapped from marine shale in the southern
Sichuan Basin. Breakthrough and development in unconven-
tional oil and gas has made it the successor in keeping a stable
onshore oil production increase and rapid gas increase in
China.
2 Concept of unconventional oil & gas and its
geologic features
2.1 Definition
Dissection of unconventional oil and gas systems has led us
to the understanding that unconventional resources are those
distributed "continuously" "in basin centers", without conven-

Fig. 1 Development history of global oil and gas industry as well as its theories and technologies

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 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428

tional traps [11−16]. Cander (2012) put forward an approach to

define unconventional oil and gas with a viscos-
ity-permeability crossplot and proposed that the unconven-
tional resources refer to those that may be recovered at com-
mercial productivity rates via changing rock permeability or
fluid viscosity and their subsequent permeability-viscosity
ratio [17]. The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), Society
of Petroleum Evaluation Engineers (SPEE), American Asso-
ciation of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) and World Petro-
leum Congress (WPC) jointly issued a statement in 2007 that
defines unconventional resources as those "in petroleum ac-
cumulations pervasive throughout a large area and not sig-
nificantly affected by hydrodynamic effects"; also called
"continuous-type deposits". The concept of unconventional oil
and gas is considered to be consistent with that of continuous
oil and gas [1, 18].
After analyzing the basic features of various unconven-
tional oil and gas, the authors redefined the connotation of
unconventional oil and gas to attempt to cover all the contents
of the existing viewpoints: unconventional oil and gas refers
to those continuous or quasi-continuous resources with no
natural commercial yield, and can only be recovered through
reservoir stimulation to improve permeability or fluid viscos-
ity so as to realize commercial production. They have two key
signatures and two key parameters. The two key signatures
are: extensive and continuous oil and gas distribution with no
distinct trap boundary, and lacking natural and stable com-
mercial yields and evident Darcy flow. The two key parame-
ters are porosity of less than 10%, and pore throat size of less
than 1 μm or permeability values of less than 1×10−3 μm2.
Geologically, unconventional resources feature the coexis-
tence of source rocks and reservoir rocks in basin centers and
slopes, no evident trap borders or hydrodynamic effect, and
low reserves abundance. It is necessary to adopt large-scale
fracturing in horizontal wells, well pad “factory-like” produc-
tion, nano-EOR technology and so on to realize economic
production. Unconventional resources are mainly composed
of tight oil and gas, shale oil and gas, CBM, heavy petroleum
asphalt, gas hydrate and so on (Figure 2).
2.2 Geologic features
2.2.1 Features of source and reservoir
For unconventional oil and gas, source rocks mostly coexist
with reservoir rocks, including two types, self-source-re-
servoirs and source-reservoir-contacts. The former refers to oil
and gas which have been held up inside the layers instead of
being discharged from source rocks, e.g. shale gas, shale oil,
CBM, etc. The latter deals with hydrocarbons accumulated in
various kinds of tight reservoir rocks coexisting with source
rocks, e.g. tight oil and tight gas, they are near the source oil
and gas.
The transition from conventional hydrocarbon traps to
conventional hydrocarbon plays and then to unconventional
hydrocarbon accumulation measures indicates the change in
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Fig. 2 Viscosity versus natural productivity for conventional
and unconventional oil and gas resources
exploration and development targets. A hydrocarbon reservoir
is an individual trap holding oil and gas. A hydrocarbon play
is the total sum of oil and gas fields (reservoirs) with similar
accumulation conditions controlled by a same second-order
structural zone or lithologic or stratigraphic variation zone,
which emphasizes the concept and effect of hydrocarbon res-
ervoir boundaries. Unconventional hydrocarbon accumulation
measures involve such continuous accumulations in na-
no-scale pore-throat systems in coexisting source-reservoir
intervals as well as those quasi-continuous accumulations in
carbonate cracks and vugs, volcanic reservoirs, metamorphic
reservoirs, etc., which break out from the concept of belt-like
reservoirs, with no apparent "reservoir" boundaries in place.
2.2.2 Migration and accumulation
Unconventional oil and gas units tend to be reservoir inter-
vals extending over a large area, with no traps or caprocks
with apparent or definite boundaries.
The migration and accumulation of unconventional hydro-
carbons are not significantly affected by regional hydrody-
namic forces, and water column pressure and buoyancy force
play a limited role in the oil and gas migration and accumula-
tion. Non-Darcy flow, such as diffusion and overpressure are
the main mechanisms behind migration, resulting in poor dif-
ferentiation of gas, oil and water. Self-source-reservoir hy-
drocarbons are accumulated in situ; in reservoir-source-con-
tact accumulations, the main oil and gas accumulation mecha-
nism is diffusion. The migration and accumulation are driven
by hydrocarbon expulsion pressure and are blocked by capil-
lary pressure, these two kinds of pressure jointly control the
boundary or extent of hydrocarbon accumulation.
Unconventional oil and gas, especially CBM and shale oil
and gas, do not migrate a long distance in general and will
accumulate in situ after primary migration or short-range sec-
 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428

Fig. 3 Pore throat structure and type

Table 1 Values of key parameters plz = pl − ρ l gD − ηG (4)

r/μm Fluid phase b Dk η Flow mechanism
2.2.3 Reservoir features
Oil 0 0 0 Darcy flow
≥1 The paper proposes a pore throat classification program in-
Gas 0 0 0 Darcy flow
Low velocity
cluding two large categories, i.e. primary and secondary pores,
Oil 0 0 1 and five classes of micro-pore throats (Table 2). Nano-scale
0.05−1 non-Darcy flow
Gas ≠0 0 0 Slip flow pore-throat systems on a large scale predominate in uncon-
Low velocity ventional reservoirs. Pore throat diameter, for example, in
Oil 0 0 1
0.005−0.05 non-Darcy flow tight sand gas reservoirs range mainly from 25 to 700 nm. The
Gas ≠0 ≠0 0 Diffusion-slip flow Chang-6 oil layer group in central Ordos, a typical tight sand
ondary migration. Tight sand oil and gas may experience oil reservoir, has pore throat diameters of 60−800 nm. As a
some migration mainly in the form of percolation and diffu- typical example of a tight limestone oil reservoir, the Jurassic
sion. The Carboniferous Barnett shale in the Fort Worth Basin, Da’anzhai-Member in central Sichuan has pore throat diame-
in the US, for example, acts as both the source rock and res- ters of 50−800 nm [16].
ervoir rock, with a gas-bearing area of 10 360 km2, showing The system of nano-scale pore throat size determines the
"continuous" accumulation features [19]. tight nature and poor physical properties of this kind of reser-
This paper puts forward the oil and gas forming mecha- voirs. Generally speaking, their porosities are less than 10%
nisms and accumulation modes in reservoirs with different and permeabilities range from 10−6×10−3 μm2 to 1×10−3 μm2.
sizes of pore throats (Figure 3). The minimum pore throat Reservoir properties are better at fault zones owing to the
diameter for shale gas flow is 5nm, in desorption and diffu- existence of microcracks. For example, the He-8 Member
sion form; the lower limit of pore throat diameter for tight oil (24,282 data points) in Sulige, in the Ordos Basin has an av-
and gas flow is 50 nm, the flow is mainly diffusion-slip, low
erage porosity of 7.34% and permeability of 0.63×10−3 μm2;
speed Darcy flow. The upper limit of unconventional oil and
the Shan-1 Member (8,141 data points) has an average poros-
gas pore throat diameter is 1 000 nm, and where reservoirs
ity of 7.04% and permeability of 0.38×10−3 μm2. Shale oil and
with pore throats diameter are greater than 1 000 nm these are
gas reservoirs are even tighter with porosities of 4% to 6%
usually taken as conventional oil and gas reservoirs, where oil
and gas flow is mainly Darcy flow. The fluid flow pattern in and permeabilities of less than 10−4×10−3 μm2. Shale reservoir
this kind of reservoir can be calculated by formula (1) and permeabilities increase at fault zones or fracture zones.
Table 1: 2.2.4 Distribution
⎡ r 2 ρl ⎤
J = ⎢(1 + b ) + Dk r ⎥ ∇plz (1) Unconventional oil and gas accumulations are extensively
⎣ 8μl ⎦
distributed in such negative tectonic units as basin centers and
where,
0.5 slopes with "continuous" and "quasi-continuous" accumula-
μl ⎛ 2 ⎞⎛ 8πRT ⎞
b= ⎜ − 1⎟⎜ ⎟ (2) tions and are enriched in local areas, and they are different
pl ⎝ α ⎠⎝ M ⎠
from conventional resources dominated by second-order
0.5
2M ⎛ 8RT ⎞ structural zones. Therefore, exploration can be extended to a
Dk = ⎜ ⎟ (3)
3 × 103 RT ⎝ πM ⎠ whole basin. Unconventional oil and gas is characterized by

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 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428

Table 2 Classification of origins of micro-pore throats in tight reservoirs

Shale Tight sandstone Tight limestone
Origin of
Pore type Pore Development Pore diame- Pore con- Development Pore diame- Pore connec- Development Pore diame-
pores
connectivity degree ter/nm nectivity degree ter/nm tivity degree ter/nm
Isolated or Isolated or Small Isolated or Small
Intergranular pore Small amount 8−610(230) 20−250(170) 30−200(80)
Primary connected connected amount connected amount
pore Small Small
Intercrystal pore Isolated Small amount 60−100(30) Isolated Not found Isolated Not found
amount amount
Organic mat- Connected or
Developed 15−890(200)
Intragranular
micro-pore

ter micro-pore isolated

Inorganic
Connected or Relatively Connected 20−4 000 Connected or
mineral mi- 10−610(270) Developed Developed 50−400(200)
isolated developed or isolated (1 000) isolated
cro-pore
Secondary
Intergranular dis- Relatively 10−4 080(1 50−5 000 Connected or Small
pore Connected Connected Developed 100−400(150)
solved micro-pore developed 200) (1 500) isolated amount
Relatively Relatively Relatively
connected or connected Relatively 30−570 connected or Small
Micro-fracture Small amount 50−1 800(600) 100−350(300)
relatively or relatively developed (430) relatively amount
isolated isolated isolated
Xujiahe Formation and Silurian in Sichuan Xujiahe Formation in Sichuan basin,
Example Jurassic in Sichuan basin
basin, Yanchang Formation in Ordos basin Yanchang Formation in Ordos basin
Note: values in brackets are average ones

large-areal distribution and varying abundance. Source rocks produced with pertinent technologies to improve productivity,
acting as reservoirs, or widely spread, continuous reservoirs including stimulation, well drilling on a large scale, multilat-
with no significant traps (or no traps at all), result in the ex- eral and horizontal wells, etc. These reservoirs have eight
tensive distribution of unconventional petroleum with no dis- recovery features: (1) regional continuous oil and gas distri-
tinct boundaries, and the likelihood to form large-scale oil and bution with local "sweet spots"; (2) no unified gas-oil-water
gas provinces or measures. For example, shale oil and gas contact and production fluctuating; (3) development planning
reservoirs where source rocks are also reservoir rocks, have based on the definition of outer hydrocarbon boundaries and
no definite trap boundaries and gas-water contacts [13−15]. Hy- resources estimations; (4) production curves with a typical
drocarbon accumulations in reservoir rocks directly in contact "L-shape" (Figure 4), with declining rate of more than 50% in
with source rocks in basin centers or slopes are "continuously" the first year, and long-term low and stable yield; (5) necessity
distributed in space. For example, the Triassic tight oil and the of drilling hundreds even thousands of wells, without any true
Upper Paleozoic tight gas in the Ordos Basin are distributed "dry holes"; (6) low recovery factor mainly from primary re-
continuously in the plane. covery, depending on in-filling between wells; (7) horizontal
Continuous accumulation of unconventional oil and gas well volumetric fracturing and well pad factory-like produc-
mainly depends on three key factors, i.e. good source rocks, tion as the major production mode; (8) no geological risks, but
different economic benefits.
extensive reservoir rocks, and coexisting source-reservoir
Usually the lifespan of unconventional tight reservoirs after
inervals.
volumetric fracturing extends over four periods, the produc-
2.2.5 Flow characteristics tion at each period can be calculated by formula (5): (1) High
Generally without natural commercial yields, non-Darcy
flow is a typical feature of unconventional petroleum accu-
mulations. Taking tight sand as an example, flow mechanisms
depending on poro-perm conditions and water saturation in-
clude both Darcy flow and non-Darcy flow, and non-Darcy
flow is common. Tight oil and gas shows a three-part flow
mechanism of stagnation flow, linear flow and pseudo-linear
flow. Interconnected fractures and cavities in carbonates and
dissolution facies or fracture zones in tight sands are the pos-
sible "sweet spots" for rich oil and gas.
2.2.6 Recovery features
Due to its tight nature, unconventional oil and gas reser-
voirs usually have no natural commercial yields, and must be Fig. 4 “L” type production curve of unconventional oil and gas
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 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428

production period, i.e. portion A in Figure 4, in which oil and
gas is mainly produced from “man-made” fracture networks,
in Darcy flow; (2) Production decline period, i.e. portion B in
Figure 4, when oil and gas is mainly produced from “sweet
spots”, in Darcy and non-Darcy flow; (3) Low production low
profit period, i.e. portion C in Figure 4, when oil and gas
mainly come from microscale to nano-scale pores, in slip flow;
(4) Low production, no profit period, i.e. portion D in Figure
4, when oil and gas are mainly produced from nano-scale
pores, in desorption and diffusion flow.

q=
pe − pw − 2ηG {ζ
( t − tA ) + ζ C ⎡⎣t − tA − δ 4 ( tB − tA )⎤⎦
B } (5)
⎛1 1 h ⎞ S 2δ1 (1 + b ) πr 2hδ 2 + 2πhδ 3
S1 ⎜ + ln ⎟ϑ ( t ) + χ (t ) +
⎝ h π 2rw ⎠ h 4 ζ C ( t − tB ) 4 ζ D ( t − te )
4 μl ln Dk r ln
d d

These unique features determine that the recovery of un-

where,
conventional oil and gas should focus on cumulative produc-
μl
S1 = (6) tion to maximize economic benefit over the whole lifespan
2K F0 ( pe − pw )
− mF
wF and stable or increased production would mainly rely on relay
μl between wells (Figure 5).
S2 = (7)
4 K B0 ( pe − pB )
− mB
xF 2.3 Differences between unconventional and
conventional oil and gas
K F0e − mF ( pe − pw )
ζA = (8) For conventional oil and gas, the point of any study is to
μ lC t
answer whether or not traps have evolved into hydrocarbon
K B0e− mB ( pe − pl ) reservoirs at the right time. The exploration focuses on re-
ζB = (9)
μ lC t vealing reservoir boundaries and the development pursues
long-term and stable high yield of hydrocarbons. The key jobs
ζC =
(1 + b ) r 2 (10) include the compilation of relevant information i.e. a trap
8 μ lC t structure map, reservoir cross-section, and trap element table
Dk (Table 3). With the advancement in technologies, past uncon-
ζD = (11)
Ct

xF2 μlCt
tA = (12)
4 K F0e − mF ( pe − pw )

xF2 μlCt d 2 μ lC t
tB = + (13)
4 K F0e− mF ( pe − pw ) 16 K B0e− mB ( pe − pl )

⎧ 2 ζ At
⎪ 0 < t < tA
ϑ (t ) = ⎨ xF (14)
⎪1 t ≥ tA
⎩
⎧ 2 ζ B (t − tA ) tA <t <tB
⎪
χ (t ) = ⎨ d (15)
⎪ t ≥ tB
⎩ 2 Fig. 5 Lifespans of global unconventional oil and gas projects

Table 3 Differences between conventional and unconventional petroleum

Geologic study
Type Key technologies Exploration methods Development models Recovery modes Key diagrams
contents
Horizontal well Construction of pilots Three figures and one table:
Selection of core Make breakthrough Cumulative yield
drilling and volu- in well pad factory- isopach map of mature source
region in sweet spots in individual well
Uncon- metric fracturing like production mode rocks, isopach map of reservoir
ventional Find out boundaries rocks, structure map of reser-
EOR with nano- Cost-reduction tech- Infilling between
Sweet spot of continuous petro- voir top, core region appraisal
technology nologies wells
leum provinces table
High and stable Two figures and one table: trap
Conven- Productivity
Trap Seismic prediction Discover petroleum yield from indi- structure map, reservoir
tional construction
vidual wells cross-section, trap element table
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 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428
ventional oil and gas discoveries may have been treated as
conventional. The core of unconventional study is to answer
whether oil and gas are continuous in distribution, with an
evaluation of lithology, physical properties, brittleness, oili-
ness, source rock features and stress heterogeneity and their
configuration as the key. The exploration aims at “sweet spot”
identification and delineating boundaries of continuous or
quasi-continuous accumulations, and the development seeks
initial high production and long-term cumulative production.
The key work contents include information such as isopach
maps of mature source rocks, isopach maps of reservoir rocks,
structure maps of reservoir top, and core region appraisal data
tables.
3 Status quo and potential of unconventional oil
and gas
3.1 Status quo
Tight gas, accounting for 75% of the total unconventional
gas yield, has become an important part in unconventional gas.
In the US, more than 900 tight gas fields have been discov-
ered in 23 basins with recoverable reserves of 5×1012 m3 and
more than 1×105 production wells. Tight gas yields in 2012
amounted to 1 630×108 m3, accounting for about 24% of the
total gas yield in the US [20]. Some tight gas fields have been
discovered in China, such as the Upper Paleozoic in the Ordos
Basin, the Xujiahe Formation in the Sichuan Basin and the
deep Kuche in the Tarim Basin. These tight gas fields have
cumulative proved reserves of 3.6×1012 m3, about two fifth of
the total proved gas reserves in China. The tight gas yield in
2012 reached 300×108 m3, accounting for about 28% of total
gas yield in China [21].
Coal bed methane is another important member in the un-
conventional gas family. Among 74 coal-bearing countries in
the world, 35 countries have been engaging in CBM research
and development, about half of which have been carrying out
CBM exploration and pilot and commercial scale recovery.
From the end of the 1970s to the early 1980s, preliminary
CBM production became successful in the US, followed by
rapid development on a large scale. CBM production reached
470×108 m3 in 2012 [20]. After more than 20 years of explora-
tion, CBM in Canada and Australia has stepped into a phase
of rapid development at the turn of the century and current
production is 80×108 m3 and 50×108 m3 respectively. After a
similar amount of time, exploration and recovery tests have
resulted in a CBM boom in China since 2006, and the CBM
yield in 2012 reached 26×108 m3.
Shale gas is a new rising star in the unconventional gas
portfolio. With the technology advancement and commercial
application of horizontal drilling and multi-stage fracturing,
the development of shale gas has entered the fast lane in the
21st century. The US is a major representative in shale gas
industrialization and its shale gas yield in 2005 and 2010
broke the records of 200×108 m3 and 1 000×108 m3 respec-
− 419 −
tively; the yield in 2012 reached 2 710×108 m3, taking up
about 40% of total gas yield in the country [20]. The research,
exploration and exploitation of shale gas in China is just at its
beginning; there are more than 60 wells drilled for shale gas
and 24 wells yielded gas flow. These included three horizontal
wells, i.e. Ning201-H1, Lai101 and Yang201, that have initial
production levels of over 10×104 m3. The annual commercial
shale gas production exceeded 3 000×104 m3.
Tight oil has become a bright spot of the unconventional
petroleum in the world. At present, North America has found
19 basins of tight oil, 4 suits of tight oil pay layers, such as
Bakken tight sands, Eagle Ford tight limestone etc, the proven
recoverable reserves 6.4×108 t, the production in 2012 being
about 9690×104 t which account for 22% of the total in the
U.S.A.
Shale oil may become a potential field in the global uncon-
ventional petroleum development. It refers to the petroleum
occurring in organic-rich, nano-pore shale layers. Different
from shortly migrated tight sand oil and tight limestone oil,
shale oil does not migrate. Currently, shale oil has not been
put into commercial production yet. In China, shale nano-pore
systems and fracture shale oil have been found in continental
organic shale.
Oil sands in Canada and heavy oil in Venezuela have been
put into production in scale; oil shale and natural gas hydrate
have also made great progress in resource survey and produc-
tion test.
According to International Energy Agency, the global un-
conventional oil output in 2010 accounted for about 3% of the
total oil output and the unconventional gas output over 13% of
the total gas output. Unconventional oil and gas has become a
vital component in the global oil and gas supply [6]. The
breakthrough made in unconventional oil and gas exploration
and exploitation has three strategic significances: (1) It pro-
longs the lifespan of the petroleum industry, extends beyond
the area of traditional resources and reservoir-forming theories,
and adds resource types and resources; (2) It has triggered a
scientific and technical revolution and pushes forward the
technological upgrade for the petroleum industry; (3) It has
changed the traditional energy framework of the world. It
forms two territories: one territory of “unconventional oil and
gas” in the Western Hemisphere with America at its center,
with a south-north petroleum supply; and another territory of
“conventional oil and gas” in the Eastern Hemisphere with the
Middle East as its center, with an eastward petroleum supply.
3.2 Resource potential
Conventional structural and lithologic reservoirs have
high-quality resources, but can be limited in total amount,
only accounting for 20% of total resources. Whereas, uncon-
ventional resources such as heavy oil, tar sand oil, tight oil,
tight gas, CBM, shale oil, shale gas, oil shale oil and gas hy-
drate are cumulatively much greater than conventional oil and
gas in quantity, accounting for almost 80% of total resources.
 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428

But these resources are relatively low in grade, and set higher
requirements on technologies [15−16].
3.2.1 Global potential of unconventional oil and gas
There is still abundant conventional oil and gas remaining
in the world (Table 4), but with the rise of international crude
oil prices and intensified contradiction of regional imbalances
between supply and demand, the significance of unconven-
tional oil and gas exploration and exploitation is becoming
more and more prominent. According to investigations made
by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the Depart-
ment of Energy (DOE) and the International Energy Agency
(IEA), global unconventional oil resources including heavy oil,
crude bitumen, tight oil and oil shale oil amount to about 6 200×
108 t, which are equivalent to conventional petroleum resources.
Global unconventional gas resources including tight gas,
CBM, shale gas and gas hydrate reach 3 922×1012 m3, almost
8.3 times as much as conventional gas resources [19, 26, 29−37].
(1) Heavy oil. The global recoverable resources are about
1 079×108 t, which are mainly distributed in South America
and the Middle East, taking up 76.3% and 11.0% [19, 30−31] re-
spectively of the total resources (Table 5). The Orinoco heavy
oil belt in Venezuela is the largest province of heavy crude oil
in the world with an area of 18 220 km2. According to the
latest assessment made by the USGS in 2009, the technically
recoverable resources of Orinoco heavy oil are up to 823×108
t (about 513×109 bbl) [29], which shows a fairly big increase
compared with previous resources assessments. According to
the appraisal made by BP in 2012, the remaining proved re-
coverable reserves of the Orinoco heavy oil of 353×108 t, and
conventional oil reserves add up to the remaining proved re-
coverable oil reserves in Venezuela of 463×108 t, almost
98×108 t higher than that in Saudi Arabia, which places Vene-
zuela first in the world in terms of oil reserves, followed by
Saudi Arabia [7].
(2) Oil sands. Crude bitumen or so-called oil sands oil is
even richer than heavy oil, with recoverable resources of
about 1 066.7×108 t, 81.6% of which in North America [19]
(Table 5). Alberta, Canada is an area which has the richest oil
sands reserves in the world. According to the statistics by BP,
the remaining proved recoverable reserves of Canadian oil
sands were up to 275×108 t by the end of 2011, about 97% of
the total remaining proved recoverable reserves [7]. Canada is
now the only country in the world that produces commercial
oil sands oil on a large scale, and its oil production was about
0.9×108 t in 2011 [32].
(3) Oil shale oil. The global exploitation and utilization of
oil shales have a long history. The production of oil shale oil
began as early as the late 19th century and its large-scale ex-
ploitation and utilization occurred in the 1970s to the 1990s;
the peak yield in 1980 reached 4 700×104 t [35]. There are
more than 600 oil shale deposits in the world at present with
the geologic resources of 4 540×108 t (about 3.14×1012 bbl),
amounting to recoverable resources of 1 501×108 t. Oil shale
oil resources in the US are 3 016×108 t (about 2×1012 bbl),
accounting for two third of global oil shale oil resources. But
the US has never conducted commercial production of oil
shale oil [33−35, 38].
(4) Tight oil. Based on its technologies and experience of
shale gas exploitation, the US has made breakthroughs in ex-
ploration and exploitation of tight oil and has discovered some

Table 4 Distribution of global conventional petroleum resources [7, 16−28]

Oil Natural gas
Type
Quantity/108 t Percent/% Quantity/1012 m3 Percent/%
Global recoverable resources (conventional) 4 878 100.0 471 100.0
Cumulative recovery 1 690 34.7 76 16.1
Remaining proved recoverable reserves 1 724 35.3 208 44.3
Undiscovered recoverable resources 1 464 30.0 187 39.6
Note: Cumulative recovery and remaining proved recoverable reserves by the end of 2011.

Table 5 Global heavy oil and crude bitumen distribution [6−7,20,22-31]

Region Heavy oil/108 t Crude bitumen/108 t Oil shale oil/108 t Total/108 t
North America 53.5 870.3 1 011.1 1 934.9
South America 823.5 0.2 39.1 862.7
Africa 10.9 70.5 77.7 159.1
Europe 7.4 0.3 56.3 64.0
Middle East 118.5 0.0 46.8 165.2
Asia 44.8 70.2 152.1 267.2
Russia 20.3 55.2 118.2 193.8
Total 1 078.9 1 066.7 1 501.3 3 646.9

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major pay zones, e.g. the Bakken, Eagle Ford, and Monterey (8) Gas hydrates. Gas hydrate resources are estimated to be
shales showing bright futures. The U.S. Energy Information 2.8×1015−8×1018 m3. Gas hydrates are generally believed to be
Administration (EIA) reported in 2012 that the technically over twice as much as all fossil fuel resources combined and
recoverable resources of tight oil in the world are 327×108 t, could reach about 2.1×1016 m3 [36−37]. Even by a conservative
in which North America, Asia and Latin America have tech- estimate, the global gas hydrate resources will also reach
nically recoverable tight oil resources of 97×108 t, 70×108 t 3 000×1012 m3, so the prospects of development are huge.
and 50×108 t respectively, combined together they accout for With the advancement of development technologies, un-
66% of the total world tight oil resources [34]. conventional oil and gas will play a more and more important
(5) Tight gas. Tight gas resources are very abundant and role in future oil and gas supply. According to IEA predictions
spread extensively around the world. There are about 70 ba- in 2011, the global production of unconventional oil and gas
sins in the world with discovered or speculated to have tight in 2035 will be over 5×108 t and 1×1012 m3 [6] respectively,
gas, with the total resources of around 209.6×1012 m3 [28]. accounting for more than 10% of total oil yield and 22% of
Tight gas has been found in the Asian-Pacific region, North total gas yield. EIA anticipated in 2013 that the unconven-
America, Latin America, the Former Soviet Union, the Middle tional gas output in the US will reach 7 4 00×108 m3 in 2040,
East-North Africa, etc. and the resources in the first three re- about 79% of the total gas output then [20].
gions are 51.0×1012 m3, 38.8×1012 m3 and 36.6×1012 m3 re- 3.2.2 Potential in China
spectively, accounting for more than 60% of the global tight
Compared with conventional petroleum resources, the un-
gas resources (Table 6).
conventional oil and gas resources are more abundant in
(6) Coalbed methane. CBM exploitation and utilization
China. The recoverable resources of unconventional oil and
have evolved from gas extraction from coal mines into an
gas in China are estimated to be 890×108−1 260×108 t (Table
independent CBM industry. Global CBM resources are around
7 and Figure 6), about three times as much as conventional oil
256.1×1012 m3 [28], basically in those countries with great coal
and gas, among which the recoverable resources of unconven-
resources such as the Former Soviet Union, North America
tional oil are around 223×108−263×108 t, almost equal to the
and the Asia-Pacific region (Table 6). The main CBM pro-
conventional oil resources; the recoverable resources of un-
ducing countries in the world now include the US, Canada
conventional gas are estimated to be 84×1012−125×1012 m3,
and Australia, and the global CBM output in 2011 exceeded
about 5 times as much as recoverable resources of conven-
700×108 m3.
tional gas, showing a great potential for development [39−50].
(7) Shale gas. The global shale gas resources are 456×1012
(1) Heavy oil. Heavy oil in China has been explored and
m3 [27], exceeding tight gas and CBM combined. Shale gas is
exploited all along as a kind of conventional oil. Heavy oil is
mainly distributed in the Asia-Pacific region, North America mainly distributed in the Bohai Bay Basin, the Junggar Basin,
and Latin America with resources of 174.3×1012 m3, etc. The geologic resources are estimated to be 198×108 t and
108.8×1012 m3 and 59.9×1012 m3 respectively, which together technically recoverable resources are 19×108 t. After nearly 60
account for 75% of the global shale gas resources (Table 6). years of exploration, almost a hundred heavy oil provinces
North America is the only region now in the world with have been discovered in 15 basins. The proved reserves are
commercial shale gas production. In 2011, shale gas yield in 67.4×108 t and the recoverable reserves are 11×108 t. The
the US accounted for 40% of its total natural gas output, production in 2012 exceeded 1 000×104 t. Heavy oil has be-
which may increase to 50% in 2040 [20]. come an important part of the petroleum production in China.
(2) Tight oil. Widely distributed in major petroliferous ba-
Table 6 Distribution of global tight gas, coalbed methane and
sins in China, tight oil mainly exists in tight sands or tight
shale gas[28]
carbonates coexisting or in contact with lacustrine source
Resources/1012 m3 rocks. Tight oil has been discovered in the Triassic Chang63-
Region Coalbed Shale Chang7 Member in the Ordos Basin, the Permian Lucaogou
Tight gas Total
methane gas Formation in the Junggar Basin, the Middle and Lower Juras-
North America 38.8 85.4 108.8 233.0 sic in the Sichuan Basin, the Qingshankou Formation to
Latin America 36.6 1.1 59.9 97.6 Quantou Formation in the Songliao Basin, etc.; some signifi-
Europe 12.2 7.7 15.5 35.4 cant discoveries have also been made in exploration. Tight oil
Former Soviet Union 25.5 112.0 17.7 155.2
in China has the potential to form large-scale geologic re-
serves with effective development. The technically recover-
Middle East & North Africa 23.3 0.0 72.2 95.5
able resources are estimated preliminarily to be
Africa south of Sahara 22.2 1.1 7.8 31.1
20×108−25×108 t [42−43].
Asia-Pacific 51.0 48.8 174.3 274.1
(3) Oil shale oil. Oil shale in many areas in China is fairly
Total (oil equivalent) 209.6 256.1 456.2 921.9 abundant. According to the latest round of national resources

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 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428

Table 7 Unconventional petroleum resources and proved reserves in China

Technically recoverable Proved recoverable
Type resources reserves (oil/108 t; Typical regions (series of strata)
8 12 3
(oil/10 t; gas/10 m ) gas/1012 m3)
Bamianhe in Shengli oilfield, Huanxiling in Liaohe oil-
Heavy oil 19 11.0
field, Fengcheng in Xinjiang oilfield
Yanchang Fm. in the Ordos Basin, Fuyang in the Son-
Tight oil 20−25 3.7
gliao Basin
Oil shale oil 120 14.6 Fushun in Liaoning, Maoming in Guangdong
Oil sands oil 23 0.1 Urho in Junggar, Tumuji in Songliao, Houba in Sichuan
Oil
Shale oil 30−60 Triassic System in Ordos, Cretaceous System in Songliao
Oil in carbonate cracks and vugs 6−8 2.3 Cambrian-Ordovician in North Tarim
Oil in volcanic reservoirs 4−6 1.0 Carboniferous System in North Xinjiang
Oil in metamorphic reservoirs 1−2 0.7 Xinglongtai burial hill in Liaohe
Subtotal 223−263 33.4
Tight gas 9−13 1.8 Sulige in Ordos, Xujiahe Fm. in Sichuan
Coalbed methane 11 0.2 Qinshui in Shanxi, Hancheng in Ordos
Shale gas 10−25 Lower Paleozoic and Triassic shale gas in Sichuan
Natural Hydrate 50−70 South China Sea area, Qinghai-Tibet plateau permafrost
gas Ordovician Yingshan Fm. in Middle Tarim, Ordovician
Gas in carbonate cracks and vugs 3−4 0.7
in Ordos
Gas in volcanic reservoirs 1−2 0.2 Deep zones in Songliao, Carboniferous in North Xinjiang
Subtotal 84−125 2.9
Total 890−1 260 56.4
Note: The statistics of proved recoverable reserves is from the end of 2011.

Fig. 6 Distribution of favorable onshore unconventional oil and gas areas in China

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 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428
assessments, the geologic resources of oil shale oil in 47 ba-
sins are estimated to be 476×108 t and the recoverable re-
sources are 120×108 t, 94%. These are distributed in seven
basins including the Songliao, Ordos, Lunpola, Junggar,
Qiangtang, Maoming and Qaidam. But the grades of oil shale
resources are relatively low on the whole. The recoverable oil
resources in oil shale with oil content higher than 5% are
about 81×108 t, accounting for 71% of the total oil shale oil
resources in the country. The recoverable oil resources in oil
shale with oil content higher than 10% are about 35×108 t,
only accounting for 29% of the total oil shale oil resources [38].
(4) Oil sands. The geological resources of oil sands oil in
China are estimated to be 60×108 t and recoverable resources
are 23×108 t, 88% of which most are distributed in seven ba-
sins including the Junggar, Tarim, Qiangtang, Qaidam,
Songliao, Sichuan and Ordos. The grades of oil sands are poor
on the whole. The recoverable oil resources in oil sands with
oil content higher than 6% are about 11×108 t, accounting for
48% of the total oil sands oil resources in the country; while
the recoverable oil resources in oil sands with oil content
higher than 10% are only about 0.4×108 t, just accounting for
2% of total recoverable oil sands oil resources [40].
(5) Shale oil. Shale oil widely occurs in lacustrine shale in
the Ordos Yanchang Fm., Junggar Permian, Sichuan Jurassic,
Bohai Bay Shahejie, Songliao Cretaceous, Qaidam Tertiary,
Jiuquan Cretaceous, Sangtanghu Permian, etc. In recent years
some pilot exploration drilling and tests conducted aiming at
the Sha3 shale in west Liaohe, He3 shale in the Biyang sag,
etc. have proved to have been fruitful. The technically recov-
erable resources of shale oil in China are tentatively estimated
to be 30×108−60×108 t [12].
(6) Tight gas. Tight gas had been discovered back in the
1960s in western Sichuan, but there is no great development
for a long time due to immature technology. In recent years
with the advancement and application of large-scale fracturing
stimulation, the exploration and exploitation of tight sand gas
have been pushed forward significantly, giving rise to some
discoveries of large gas provinces represented by the Sulige
area in the Ordos Basin and the Xujiahe Formation in the Si-
chuan Basin; some wells with high-yield gas flow from tight
sands have also been drilled in the Songliao, Tuha, Tarim,
Bohai Bay and other basins, indicating a wide and abundant
distribution of tight sand gas in China. According to the latest
estimation, technically recoverable resources of tight sand gas
are about 9×1012−13×1012 m3 [21, 44−45].
(7) Coalbed methane. After nearly 20 years of development,
various technologies suitable for the exploration and exploita-
tion of different kinds of CBM have come into being. Indus-
trial production has been successfully conducted in Shanxi
Qinshui, Liaoning Tiefa, etc, and some pilot tests are on-going
in east Ordos, Tuha, Junggar, etc. According to the latest
round of national resources assessments, the recoverable
CBM resources above 1 500 m are 10.9×1012 m3 [41, 46] in
China. At present, the cumulative proved recoverable CBM
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reserves are 2 731×108 m3. The CBM output was 26×108 m3 up
to 2012. CBM in China is just entering a phase of rapid devel-
opment.
(8) Shale gas. Shale gas in China is just at the beginning of
study, exploration and production; resources potential and
favorable zones are still to be confirmed. In recent years some
progress has been made in resources assessment, core zone
optimization, horizontal drilling and fracturing and industrial
test site construction; industrial production from individual
wells has also been achieved, indicating that there is the po-
tential to develop a shale gas industry in China. The techni-
cally recoverable resources of shale gas are tentatively esti-
mated to be 10×1012−25×1012 m3 [47−50]. For large-scale shale
gas production in China, four major challenges, i.e. theories,
technologies, cost and environmental protection have to be
addressed. A three-step roadmap of core zone optimization,
test site construction and production area planning should be
worked out.
(9) Gas hydrates. Resources investigation on gas hydrates
in China started late compared with overseas studies. It is now
still focused on pilot studies and resources investigation. A
special project initiated in 1999 on gas hydrate resources sur-
veys has included a special survey in the South China Sea
area and the permafrost region in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
Some hydrate samples were collected from the Shenhu sea
area in the northern South China Sea in 2007 and from the
Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in 2008. According to current investi-
gations, technically recoverable resources of gas hydrates are
estimated to be 50×1012−70×1012 m3.
Besides the unconventional petroleum discussed above,
large amounts of oil and gas have been discovered in some
unconventional reservoir rocks including volcanic rocks, me-
tamorphic rocks and fracture-vug type carbonate rocks. Some
oil and gas fields are reported with proved reserves and a cer-
tain extent of productivity, demonstrating the prospects of
these kinds of unconventional oil and gas plays.
3.3 Development strategies
Various unconventional oil and gas plays show large dif-
ferences in reservoir properties, hydrocarbon accumulations
and applicable technologies, so the exploration and develop-
ment should be conducted in different ways. In recent years,
some major breakthroughs have been made in global uncon-
ventional oil and gas exploration, represented by discoveries
of the unconventional oil and gas in the US, oil sands in Can-
ada and heavy oil in Venezuela. The development of overseas
unconventional oil and gas is in the fast lane, from tight gas,
CBM and shale gas, oil sands, heavy oil initially to shale oil
and tight oil in recent years.
Different from overseas geologic characteristics, the geo-
logical settings in China have some uniqueness, e.g.
multi-cycle structural evolution, mainly continental facies and
large lithologic variation, which are reflected in tectonic geo-
dynamic setting, sedimentary environment, source rock dis-
 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428
Table 8 Different sequences of unconventional petroleum development in China and North America
Geologic setting
Region
Structural Sedimentary Reservoir
Landforms
evolution environment feature
Mainly con-
Mainly Strong het- Mountain, hill, Insuffi- Underdevel- Unes-
China tinental fa-
multicycle erogeneity desert, etc. cient
cies
Mainly Relatively
North Mainly ma-
single- homogene- Mainly plain
America rine facies
cycle ous
tribution, sediment grading, reservoir heterogeneity, mecha-
nism of migration and accumulation and gas-oil-water rela-
tionship (Table 8). Therefore unconventional oil and gas de-
velopment in China can not indiscriminately copy those over-
seas patterns.
The development of unconventional oil and gas in China
can be carried out in three steps: (1) speed up industrial
production of tight gas and tight oil to accomplish reserves
and production increase; (2) accelerate construction of
shale gas, CBM and oil shale pilots to realize commercial
and economic production on a large scale; (3) put more
effort in fundamental studies of theories and technologies
for gas hydrate and shale oil so as to make them into next
generation of resources.
4 Core technologies for exploration and
exploitation of unconventional oil and gas
4.1 Seismic reservoir prediction
As for unconventional reservoir prediction, it is very diffi-
cult to generate a unique result with seismic approaches be-
cause unconventional reservoirs are diverse, with large verti-
cal and lateral variation, strong heterogeneity, complicated
oil-water contacts and significant P-velocity anisotropy. Tech-
nically, prestack seismic prediction is essential and crucial to
the characterization of all kinds of complicated reservoirs
including the unconventional oil and gas [51−52].
4.2 Horizontal drilling
Compared with vertical wells, horizontal drilling has the
advantages of larger drainage area, high individual well yield,
large contact and high reserves production degree; also hori-
zontal drilling occupies a small land area and can avoid obsta-
cles or some zones with poor drilling conditions. Horizontal
drilling is of great importance for improving individual well
production and recovery efficiency and has become a key
technology in high-efficiency exploration and exploitation of
unconventional oil and gas. Advancements in the technology
have given rise to many new techniques, e.g. extended reach
well drilling, sidetracked well drilling, multilateral well drilling,
pinnate horizontal drilling, cluster well drilling (PAD), unbal-
anced horizontal drilling, and coiled tubing drilling [51, 53−55].
Working conditions Developmental sequence
Techno-
Water Ground pipe- Policy Reserves and pro- Commercial
logical
sources line network support duction increase tests
research
Shale gas,
Shale oil ,
Tight gas, tight oil coalbed meth-
oped tablished gas hydrate
ane, oil shale
Heavy petroleum
Suffi- Estab- asphalt, tight gas, Oil shale, gas
Developed Shale oil
cient lished coalbed methane, hydrate
shale gas, tight oil
4.3 Fracturing
Fracturing is crucial to reservoir permeability improvement.
In recent years, fracturing has experienced the transformation
from small scale to large scale, from single layer to multi-
layer, from vertical wells to horizontal wells, evolving into
fracturing technologies and supporting technologies, such as
separate-layer fracturing in vertical wells, multi-stage fractur-
ing in horizontal wells, refracturing and simultaneous fractur-
ing, all of which play a key role in high-efficiency recovery of
unconventional oil and gas. Fracturing is now developing in
the following three aspects: (1) continuous development and
integration of existing technologies, such as coiled tubing
fracturing, slim-hole fracturing and downhole fluid prepara-
tion while fracturing; (2) fracturing equipment evolves in the
direction of high power, modularized components, small scale
and portable design; (3) high efficiency, low cost and envi-
ronmentally friendly fracturing, such as ongoing volumetric
fracturing and HiWAY flow-channel hydraulic fracturing is a
trend of the future [51, 56−58].
4.4 Microseismic monitoring
Microseismic monitoring uses microseismic events of very
low intensity induced from fracturing or water injection to
monitor fracture performance and fluid flow inside pay zones,
which is helpful in reservoir management optimization and
tight reservoir exploration and exploitation. This approach can
give real-time information such as height, length, azimuth,
geometry and spatial extension of fractures, which can be
used in fracturing design, well pattern optimization and in
EOR. As for unconventional petroleum exploitation, produc-
tion increase, EOR and reserves recovery are closely related
to fracturing, therefore microseismic monitoring is an effec-
tive way to monitor fracturing results in real time [51, 59].
4.5 “Factory-like” operation mode
Instead of drilling a single-well on a well site with low effi-
ciency, “factory-like” production is mainly based on multi-
wells on a well pad to reduce land occupation and operation
cost, during which dozens of wells on a well pad will be put
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 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428
into production through a cluster of horizontal drilling and
simultaneous fracturing or overlapping fracturing. This opera-
tion pattern will significantly reduce land occupation, equip-
ment transportation and job time and will generate an even
more complicated fracture system within the control of many
wells at hydrocarbon-bearing intervals, so the volume of
stimulation as well as initial production and ultimate recovery
will be increased. In addition, this approach will reduce the
amount of surface pipelines and gathering facilities and the
cost of production and operation, which makes it possible to
recover unconventional oil and gas with efficiency and eco-
nomic benefit.
The petroleum industry will step into an era of nano-tech-
nology, which is represented by some key technologies: (1)
nano-photoscope for oil and gas observation, based on 3D
reservoir models reconstructed from nano-CT and 3D seismic
perspective; (2) nano-hydrocarbon displacing agents to im-
prove recovery; (3) nano-robots for hydrocarbon recovery,
used in some key processes of oil and gas exploration and
exploitation; (4) nano-materials, used in the whole system of
petroleum industry. Nano-technology and information tech-
nology would become new core technologies in the petroleum
industry, ushering in an intelligent era of oil and gas.
5 Prospect of unconventional petroleum geology
Unconventional petroleum geology is a new discipline
studying the type, accumulation mechanism, distribution,
enrichment and development strategy of unconventional pe-
troleum. Taking continuous or quasi-continuous hydrocarbon
accumulations as study areas, source-reservoir relations as key
points, continuous hydrocarbon accumulation theories as a
central focus, and orderly development of unconventional oil
and gas as strategy, this discipline is now becoming the theo-
retical basis of the development of petroleum geology.
5.1 Development history
The existence of unconventional oil and gas has been pre-
dicted as early as in the hydrocarbon reservoir classification
scheme made by Wilson B W in 1934; but at that time these
kinds of hydrocarbon accumulations were regarded as of no
exploration value [1]. Since the 1980s, some unconventional
oil and gas, e.g. tight gas, CBM, shale gas, heavy petroleum
asphalt and tight oil, have gradually become important targets
in global petroleum reserves and production increase against
the background of theoretical development in petroleum ge-
ology and in the advancement in engineering technologies.
Considering some features of extensive oil and gas accumula-
tion in those unconventional reservoirs such as tight sands,
coal beds and shales without distinct trap-caprock boundaries
and gas-oil-water contacts, Schmoker from the US presented a
concept of “continuous hydrocarbon accumulation” in 1995,
which is a sign of the initiation of unconventional petroleum
geology and the core idea of the theory [1, 8].
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5.2 Study contents
Diverse in nature, unconventional oil and gas of different
types have commonalities and differences in geological fea-
tures, accumulation mechanisms and distribution patterns.
Most unconventional oil and gas accumulation features the
coexistence of source rocks and reservoirs, tightness of reser-
voirs and low abundance. The accumulation of large scale oil
and gas depends on whether there are large scale premium
mature source rocks and large areas of reservoir developed.
Oil and gas accumulation modes and theoretical formula at
different lower limits of pore throat sizes, L-shape production
curve and theoretical prediction models for unconventional oil
and gas were established, revealing forming mechanisms and
recovery patterns of unconventional oil and gas. There are
“sweet spots”, oil and gas bearing areas and non oil and gas
bearing areas in the plane in unconventional oil and gas belts.
The study contents of unconventional oil and gas geology
include: (1) hydrocarbon generation potential and spatial dis-
tribution of premium source rocks; (2) large scope micro-nano
scale pore throat systems in tight reservoirs and their effec-
tiveness; (3) the configuration of lithology, physical properties,
brittleness, oiliness, source characteristics and stress anisot-
ropy; (4) oil and gas charge order, limit, and flow mechanisms;
(5) selection of enrichment section and “sweet spots”; (6)
Development strategies and pertinent technologies for differ-
ent types of unconventional oil and gas.
5.3 Methodology
Unconventional oil and gas geology places stress on study-
ing formation mechanisms, distribution features, enrichment
patterns and production mechanisms from macro-micro-su-
permicro scales. Study methods in the “km, m, cm, mm, mi-
cron and nanometer” six scales have taken shape preliminar-
ily.
For km-m macro-scale study, remote sensing sedimentol-
ogy, digital outcrop, sequence stratigraphy, seismic imaging ,
wireline logging etc are drawn upon, and remote sensing im-
aging interpretations, stratigraphic correlation, and geophysi-
cal prediction methods are used to investigate the evolution
mode and distribution features of deposited reservoirs, and 3D
spatial distribution features of depositional reservoirs.
For centimeter-micron micro-scale study, drawing on the
related knowledge on fine grain sedimentology, reservoir ge-
ology, microscopy, industrial CT, micro-CT, SEM etc experi-
mental techniques and methods are employed to look into the
sedimentation of fine grain sediments, diagenesis and evolu-
tion process.
For nano-scale studies, drawing upon the knowledge of
nano-scale reservoirs, FE SEM, nanometer CT, FIB etc these
advanced experimental techniques and methods are used to
study the pore throat structure of, oil and gas occurrence state
and flow mechanism in tight reservoirs.
Seismic, logging, core analysis are used to investigate the
 ZOU Caineng et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2013, 40(4): 413–428

relationship of lithology, physical properties, brittleness, oili- ρl —fluid density, kg/m3;

ness, source rock features and stress anisotropy, make com- μl —fluid viscosity, mPa·s;
prehensive evaluation on “sweet spots” and concentrated sec- Dk —diffusion factor, dimensionless;
tion of unconventional oil and gas, and provide bases for ho- p lz —reduced pressure, Pa;
rizontal well design and massive fracturing. p l —fluid average formation pressure, Pa;
α —tangential vector adjustment factor, range 0-1;
5.4 Significance
R —gas mole constant, J/(mol·K);
Unconventional oil and gas recovery on a large scale has T —absolute temperature, K;
triggered a revolution in petroleum geology, exploration and M —gas mole mass, kg/mol;
exploitation technologies and recovery modes, toppling some pl —l phase fluid formation pressure, Pa;
traditional understandings in petroleum geology mainly in g —gravitational acceleration, m/s2;
five aspects: (1) There is no restriction on reservoir petro- D —distance to the base level, m;
physical properties any more, tight rocks and source rocks can η —Starting pressure factor, dimensionless;
also act as effective reservoir rocks; (2) caprock is not a “must G —oil phase starting pressure, Pa;
have” in accumulation any more, tight reservoir rocks them- pe—initial formation pressure, Pa;
selves and water potential energy can also have sealing capac- pw—bottomhole flowing pressure, Pa;
ity; (3) there is no restriction on trap boundaries any more. Oil pB—average formation pressure at production decline section, Pa;
and gas could be preserved in those layered reservoir bodies ζ A , ζ B , ζ C , ζ D — pressure transmitting coefficients at dif-
without distinct trap boundaries; (4) there is no restriction on ferent stages of production, m2/s;
migration driving force any more. Buoyancy plays a limited t —production time, s;
role in hydrocarbon migration, while pressurization from hy- tA, tB— production time at different stages, s;
drocarbon generation and capillary pressure differences may te— time needed to reach economic production limit, s;
become the major driving force. Non-Darcy flow is the typical S1, S2—fracturing area, sweet spot percolation factor, (Pa·s)/m3;
feature of fluid flow and there is no distinct gas, oil and water h—reservoir effective thickness, m;
differentiation; (5) there is no restriction on the location of rw—wellbore radius, m;
accumulation. Unconventional oil and gas are mainly distrib- ϑ (t ) , χ (t ) —piecewise function;
uted in such negative tectonic units as basin centers and δ 1, δ 2, δ 3, δ 4—control coefficient at production stage, dimen-
slopes. sionless;
d—half the distance between two fractures, m;
6 Conclusions
KF0—initial fracturing permeability, m2;
The global unconventional petroleum resources far exceed mF—stress sensitivity factor of fracturing permeability, dimen-
the conventional petroleum in potential and the unconven- sionless;
tional to conventional ratio is generally 8:2; the exploitation wF—fracture width, m;
and utilization of unconventional petroleum is a must. The pB— average strata pressure at the production decrease stage, Pa;
exploration for tight gas, shale gas, CBM, oil sands oil, heavy mB—stress sensitivity of “sweet spot” formation permeability, di-
oil and tight oil has made great breakthroughs. The global mensionless.
unconventional oil and gas yield has accounted for nearly xF—half length of fracture, m;
10% of the total yield, becoming an important part in world Ct —system compressibility of strata, MPa−1;
oil supply. The petroleum industry is branching into both KB0—initial permeability of “sweet spots”, m2;
conventional and unconventional systems; petroleum geology Subscripts:
is evolving into two branches, conventional petroleum geol- l—formation fluid, oil or gas;
ogy and unconventional petroleum geology. Uncoventional A, B, C, D—serial number of different production period.
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