PETROLEUM EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT

Volume 48, Issue 5, October 2021

Online English edition of the Chinese language journal

Cite this article as: PETROL. EXPLOR. DEVELOP., 2021, 48(5): 1198–1207. RESEARCH PAPER

Progress and development directions of shale oil

reservoir stimulation technology of China National
Petroleum Corporation
LEI Qun1, WENG Dingwei1, 2, *, XIONG Shengchun1, LIU Hanbin3, GUAN Baoshan1, DENG Qiang4,
YAN Xuemei1, 2, LIANG Hongbo1, 2, MA Zeyuan1, 2
1. Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina, Beijing 100083, China;
2. Stimulation Department of National Energy Tight Oil and Gas R&D Center, Langfang 065007, China;
3. PetroChina Changqing Oilfield Company, Xi’an 710018, China;
4. PetroChina Tuha Oilfield Company, Hami 839009, China

Abstract: By reviewing the development history of shale oil reservoir stimulation technology of PetroChina Company Limited
(PetroChina), we have systematically summarized the main progress of shale oil reservoir stimulation technology of CNPC in
five aspects: reservoir stimulation mechanism, fracture-controlled fracturing, geological-engineering integrated reservoir stim-
ulation design platform, low-cost materials, and large well-pad three-dimensional development mode. It is made clear that the
major stimulation technology for shale oil reservoir is the high density multi-cluster and fracture-controlled staged fracturing
aiming to increase fracture-controlled reserves, lower operation costs and increase economic benefits. Based on comprehensive
analysis of the challenges shale oil reservoir stimulation technology faces in three-dimensional development, stimulation pa-
rameter optimization for fracture-controlled fracturing, refracturing and low-cost stimulation technology, we proposed five
development directions of the stimulation technology: (1) Strengthen the research on integration of geology and engineering to
make full use of reservoir stimulation. (2) Deepen the study on fracture-controlled fracturing to improve reserves development
degree. (3) Promote horizontal well three-dimensional development of shale oil to realize the production of multiple layers
vertically. (4) Research refracturing technology of shale oil reservoir through horizontal well to efficiently tap the remaining
reserves between fractures. (5) Develop low-cost stimulation supporting technology to help reduce the cost and increase eco-
nomic benefit of oilfield development.

Key words: PetroChina; shale oil; reservoir stimulation; fracture-controlled fracturing; integrated geologic and engineering
research; low-cost stimulation technology

Introduction
Shale oil with rich resources is the most promising,
strategic and realistic alternative to oil in China[1]. Statis-
tics show that China's recoverable shale oil resources
amount to 55×108 t, accounting for 9.7% of the recover-
able resources worldwide[2]. Shale oil mining areas of
PetroChina Company Limited (hereinafter referred to as
PetroChina) are mainly distributed in the Songliao, Ordos,
Bohai Bay, Sichuan, and Junggar basins[3]. Since 2010,
PetroChina has greatly promoted the shale oil revolution
by strengthening exploration deployment and making more
risk investment. Shale oil exploration and development
pilot tests have been carried out in basins such as Ordos,
Junggar, Bohai Bay, Songliao and Santanghu Lake suc-
cessively, with major progress achieved. With proven
geological reserves of 6.24×108 t, controlled and predicted
reserves of 24.60×108 t, and 3P reserves of 30.84×108 t
discovered, shale oil has become a realistic replacement
for crude oil in China[4–5].
Reservoir stimulation technology is crucial for shale oil
development. Over 10 years of research and development,
introduction, learning and innovation, the main stimula-
tion technology series of "long horizontal well comple-
tion + multi-cluster perforation + slick-water carrying

Received date: 23 Feb. 2021; Revised date: 15 Aug. 2021.

* Corresponding author. E-mail: wendw69@petrochina.com.cn
Foundation item: Supported by the National Science and Technology Major Project (2016ZX05023; 2017ZX05013-005).
https://doi.org/10.1016/S1876-3804(21)60102-7
Copyright © 2021, Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina. Publishing Services provided by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi
Communications Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
 LEI Qun et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2021, 48(5): 1198–1207
sand + staged fracturing" has been developed based on
the U.S. experiences in shale oil development. By the end
of 2019, PetroChina had built up production capacity of
350×104 t in 7 major shale oil basins, including Ordos and
Songliao, etc. However, quite different from North
American marine shale oil reservoirs in quality and en-
gineering difficulties, continental shale oil reservoirs in
China have low pressure coefficient, high viscosity and
low mobility of crude oil, few natural fractures, and large
stress difference between maximum and minimum prin-
ciple stresses in general[6–12]. Shale oil development in
China still faces problems such as fast production decline,
low recovery and high cost, making profitable develop-
ment quite challenging.
By reviewing the development history of shale oil
stimulation technology in China, we have systematically
summarized the main progress in shale oil stimulation
technology, comprehensively analyzed the challenges
faced by the technology, and proposed the development
direction of the technology in this work.
1. Main progress in shale oil reservoir
stimulation technology
Since 2011, PetroChina has been learning from suc-
cessful experiences of shale oil development in North
America, and making explorations and innovations. Shale
oil reservoir stimulation technology of CNPC has experi-
enced three stages of development: vertical well conven-
tional fracturing, horizontal well volume fracturing and
fracture controlled fracturing. Important progresses have
been made in five aspects: shale oil reservoir stimulation
mechanism, fracture controlled fracturing technology,
geological-engineering integrated reservoir stimulation
design platform, low-cost fracturing materials and large
platform three-dimensional development mode.
1.1. Stimulation mechanism of shale oil reservoir
Research has been made focusing on the fracture ex-
pansion law of shale oil reservoir with beddings, the
mechanism of shale oil imbibition and replacement, and
mechanism of initiation and expansion of multi-cluster
fractures[13–15]. For China’s continental shale oil reservoir
with beddings, whether hydraulic fractures can cross the
beddings and connect the upper and lower reservoir
bodies in the fracturing process affects the placement of
horizontal well boxes and the reservoir stimulation
technology selected. Therefore, the fracture expansion
law of shale oil reservoir with beddings has been inves-
tigated by large-scale physical simulation experiments
and numerical simulations. The experimental results
showed that the fractures in shale oil reservoirs with
beddings presented "brick wall structure" or "fishbone
structure", with fracture height extension restricted. The
numerical simulation results also showed that the inhi-
 1199 
bition of fracture height by the bedding surface increased
as the bedding density increased or the cementation
strength of the bedding surface decreased. Under the
guidance of the experimental results, an inverse compos-
ite stimulation mode suitable for shale oil reservoir with
beddings has been established: at the beginning of the
stimulation, frozen glue is used to break rocks and pene-
trate bedding joints by rapidly increasing the discharge
volume, then slick-water slug carrying sand is injected to
activate and support the bedding joints, and finally fro-
zen glue carrying sand is injected into fractures to sustain
moderate conductivity. The whole process physical ex-
periment method of "high speed centrifugation-pres-
surized imbibition-core displacement" was developed,
and quantitatively evaluated the recovery enhancement
by imbibition. Three main mechanisms of imbibition
replacement have been identified: reduction of interfacial
tension, wettability change, and viscosity reduction
through emulsification and solubilization. The experi-
mental results show that imbibition can enhance recov-
ery rate by more than 4%, laying a theoretical foundation
for the development of new fluids to improve efficiency
and reduce costs. The large physical experimental meth-
od modeling perforation and fracturing has been set up
to test special perforation gun and perforation am-
munition formulation and research initiation and expan-
sion of multi-cluster fractures in open hole, spiral and
planar perforation conditions. The research shows that
each fracture cluster eventually leads to single-hole ex-
pansion, and by reducing the perforation length and in-
creasing the number of perforation clusters, the fracture
pressure and fracture complexity near wellbore can be
reduced. These research results provide a theoretical ba-
sis for the optimization of multi-cluster perforation mode
inside fracturing stage. Under guidance of these experi-
mental results, perforation clusters in each fracturing
stage in shale reservoirs have increased from 2–3 to 5–14.
1.2. Fracture controlled fracturing
To overcome the problem that the shale oil reservoir is
difficult to "break up", on the basis of unconventional oil
and gas volumetric stimulation technology[16–20], Lei et al.
proposed the design optimization and supporting tech-
nical method system for“fracture-controlled reserves”
based stimulation featuring dense fractures[21–23]. In this
technology, the length, spacing, and height of fractures
are optimized according to reservoir properties, stress,
and well-controlled reserves so as to make the ratio of the
fracture-controlled production” (the amount of oil and
gas recovered from the fractures in the target time) to the
well-controlled recoverable reserves (the oil and gas re-
serves in the reservoir unit where the well is located)
approach 1, to realize effective control and recovery of the
subsurface reserves. The core of fracture-controlled frac-
 LEI Qun et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2021, 48(5): 1198–1207
turing technology is to make clear four relationships: (1)
rock properties and fracture expansion mechanisms; (2)
horizontal section length and fracture density; (3) cou-
pling of fluid flow in reservoir and fracture; and (4)
match of artificial fractures with well spacing in well
pattern. The key points of fracture-controlled fracturing
technology include: start fracturing early, select sweet
spots and layers vertically, and determine vertical well
spacing according to simulated fracture height expansion;
determine planar well spacing according to simulated
artificial fracture length and production dynamics-based
history matching, to achieve one-time well deployment;
based on the study on the spatial and temporal evolution
of three-dimensional stress field, adopt staggering ar-
rangement of fractures and optimized fracture parame-
ters to control oil drainage area and recoverable reserves
and realize one-time fracture placement; control single
well cost and production decline by optimizing fracturing
scale to achieve one-time stimulation.
The fracture-controlled fracturing technology has been
proved very effective in shale oil development of Petro-
China[24–25]. From 2016 to 2019, 780 shale oil horizontal
wells were treated by this technology, with the average
number of stages in a single well increasing from 9.8 to
18.9, and the average added sand volume and fluid vol-
ume in a single well increasing by 4.1 and 3.1 times re-
spectively. After the fracture-controlled fracturing was
employed in the Tiaohu Formation shale oil reservoir of
Tuha Oilfield, the horizontal well spacing gradually re-
duced from 400 m to 100 m, the fracture spacing from
30–40 m to 8–15 m, and the number of clusters in each
fracturing stage increased from 3–5 to 6–10. Among
which, 73 wells had daily oil production per well in-
creasing from 13.5 t/d to 17.0 t/d. Compared with
neighboring wells in the same block, these wells had an
increase of average single well production of 25.9%, ef-
fectiveness rate increasing from 11.6% to 80.0%, degree of
fracture-controlled reserves increasing from 42.1% to
85.2%, and composite decline rate decreasing to 20%. As
a result, the predicted recovery rate of the block in-
creased from 2.5% to 10.2%. In the Longdong shale oil
development demonstration area of Changqing Oilfield,
the fracture-controlled fracturing technology has also
been applied to 58 wells, with well spacing reducing from
600–1000 m to 200–400 m, the number of clusters in
each stage increasing from 2–3 to 5–14, and cluster spac-
ing reducing from 22–30 m to 5–12 m, the degree of
fracture-controlled reserves increasing from 50%–60% to
more than 90% according to microseismic monitoring,
single well production increasing from 10–12 t/d to more
than 18 t/d, and the first-year decline rate dropping from
40%–45% to less than 35%, reversing the passive produc-
tion capacity building situation. With the support of this
technology, the demonstration area has reached a daily
 1200 
oil production of more than 1000 t and an annual pro-
duction capacity of 50×104 t.
1.3. Integrated geological-engineering reservoir
stimulation design platform
Under complex geological conditions of unconven-
tional oil and gas reservoirs, only the geological-engi-
neering integration organization and research platform
can help gradually overcome the development problems
and get better effect of reservoir stimulation. The geo-
logical-engineering integrated reservoir stimulation
mode has been established by building the following "4
platforms" for geological-engineering integrated research:
(1) integrated evaluation platform for geological evalua-
tion, sweet spot evaluation, mechanical evaluation and
well completion quality evaluation; (2) integrated design
platform for establishing geological model, reservoir
model, fracture model and economic model; (3) inte-
grated analysis platform for post-fracturing tracking,
measure evaluation, effect evaluation, and model correc-
tion; (4) integrated sharing platform for sharing experi-
mental results, optimized plans and operation design.
The Fracturing and Acidizing Technology Center of
Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Develop-
ment, PetroChina has developed FrSmart integrated
geo-engineering fracturing design software[2, 21, 26], which
with fracturing optimization and design as core, inte-
grates geological description, completion design, hydrau-
lic fracture simulation, post-fracturing production capac-
ity simulation, economic evaluation, and real-time frac-
ture monitoring, etc., and includes 7 key modules. The
software has the following functions: (1) the geological
modeling module can establish 3D geomechanical models
of individual wells or the whole area by importing the
structural, attribute and geomechanical models; (2) the
pre-fracturing analysis module can select well sections
for fracturing by comprehensively evaluating reservoir
quality and completion quality; (3) the fracture simula-
tion module and fracturing capacity simulation module
can optimize parameters such as artificial fracture spac-
ing, fracture length and fracturing scale; (4) the economic
evaluation module can estimate the payback period and
internal rate of return of different schemes based on the
net present value model, so as to select the scheme with
the best economic benefit; (5) the real-time decision, da-
tabase and data analysis module, which integrates big
data, on-site and remote decision functions, can ensure
the accuracy of input parameters and rationality of frac-
turing design.
The integrated evaluation, design and analysis can in-
crease the drilling ratio of high-quality sweet spot and
improve the fracturing effect of shale oil reservoir. During
the pilot test phase of Jimsar shale oil reservoir in Xinji-
ang Oilfield, 10 horizontal wells had a daily initial pro-
 LEI Qun et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2021, 48(5): 1198–1207
duction of 5.9–40.8 t, failing to reach the 40 t/d, and
1.5×104 t of production capacity per well cumulatively in
two years designed by the scheme. Through integrated
geological-engineering study, we found that the drilling
ratio of high-quality reservoirs was the geological guar-
antee of post-fracturing production[27]. In the test devel-
opment stage, horizontal well trajectory fine control
technologies such as rotating geosteering and thin sand
layer limited test were used. Consequently, Wells JHW023
and JHW025 reached drilling ratio of oil layer as 100%,
and drilling ratios of high-quality sweet spots of 96% and
92% respectively, marking a significant increase from less
than 70% of wells drilled earlier. After treated by
high-intensity fracture-controlled fracturing technology,
these two wells had the highest daily oil production of
88.3 t and 108.3 t respectively, and an average cumulative
production of 1.0×104 t in 240 d per well. In addition, by
adopting 3D seismic technology in Loess mountainous
areas, fine log evaluation for shale oil reservoir, horizon-
tal well trajectory steering technology, etc., Changqing
Oilfield can effectively predict shale oil sweet spots. By
using geosteering, 55 horizontal wells targeting the Tri-
assic Chang 7 Member shale oil had an increase of oil
layer drilling ratio of 15%.
1.4. Low-cost materials
1.4.1. Low-cost sealing tools for fracturing
Sealing tools have become the key ones for staged
fracturing of horizontal wells in shale oil reservoir, and
bridge plugs are the main sealing tools for fracturing of
shale oil reservoir, accounting for over 95% of the sealing
tools. Bridge plug staged fracturing has the advantages of
unlimited number of fracturing stages, large fracturing
scale and discharge, and smooth wellbore after drilling
and milling. The bridge plugs initially used by PetroChina
in horizontal well fracturing were quick-drilling compos-
ite bridge plugs imported from foreign countries at high
prices. After years of research, we have developed dis-
solvable bridge plugs and dissolvable ball seats, and these
products have been produced and applied on large scale
in China, providing new means for improving sealing and
fracturing efficiency. The dissolvable bridge plugs with a
variety of sizes and controllable dissolution time from 7
to 14 d, have promoted the transformation of domestic
unconventional oil and gas development mode, forced the
price of foreign products to drop from 197 000 RMB to 35
000 RMB, and improved the core competitiveness of
staged fracturing technology of PetroChina. The dissolv-
able ball seats developed have a pressure-bearing capacity
of 70 MPa and can be fully dissolved within 7 d[28]. They
have been applied to more than 3600 stages of 189 wells
in Changqing Oilfield, setting a record of fracturing 43
stages and removing 24 ball seats in 28 h in a single well.
In order to realize multi-cluster fracturing in one stage,
 1201 
a modular clustering shotgun has been developed. Typical
clustering shotguns relied on wires for inter-cluster con-
duction and selection control, and are complex in on-site
assembly, prone to error and inefficient. By using the
newly developed modular perforation tool, in combina-
tion with key technologies such as optimization of the
supporting string, wellbore throughput improvement,
ignition stability design, and pumping parameter, the 20
m lubricator allows 15–20 clusters of perforations to be
shot (tubing string length of 16.4–17.6 m) in one trip.
12-cluster perforation in a single stage has been success-
fully tested, greatly improving the efficiency and quality
of assembly and significantly reducing the labor intensity
in field.
1.4.2. Low-cost stimulation materials
Compared with conventional reservoir fracturing,
large-scale volume fracturing in shale oil reservoir uses
larger amount of fracturing fluid and proppant, therefore
fracturing fluid and proppant are focus of cost reduction.
In recent years, fracturing fluid has been developing to-
ward directions of slick-water with adjustable viscosity,
recoverable slick-water, and increase of slick-water pro-
portion; while in terms of proppant, quartz sand is re-
placing ceramsite.
The slick-water system with adjustable viscosity de-
veloped by Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration &
Development, PetroChina has a mass fraction of 0.01%–
0.10% and an adjustable viscosity of 2–30 mPas. It can be
converted between slick-water and sand-carrying liquid
freely, with a resistance-reducing rate of 80% before the
viscosity change and 70% after the viscosity change. The
recoverable slick-water systems of EM30 and EM50 have
been widely used in Changqing Oilfield, and have a re-
sistance-reducing rate of 70%–80% at the mass fraction of
0.03%–0.08%. In recent years, the proportion of
slick-water used in shale oil reservoir fracturing in China
has also increased year by year and now stands at about
70%. The proportion of slick-water used in fracturing of
the Tiaohu Formation shale oil reservoir of Tuha Oilfield
has risen from 36.5% to 82.8%, and the proportion of
slick-water used in fracturing of Jimsar shale oil reservoir
in Xinjiang Oilfield has increased to 50%–60%.
Recently, the research and application of proppant has
been focusing on replacing ceramsite with quartz sand to
significantly reduce the cost of fracturing materials. Ex-
periments were conducted to demonstrate the feasibility
of replacing ceramsite with quartz sand, the method to
evaluate the conductivity capacity considering stress state,
placement concentration and production regime has
been established. It has been made clear that the effective
force on proppant can reduce by 50%–60% in multi-stage
and multi-cluster fracturing mode in horizontal shale oil
wells, so quartz sand can satisfy conductivity requirement
 LEI Qun et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2021, 48(5): 1198–1207
of shallow shale oil reservoirs at depths of 3500 m or less.
In addition, results of parallel plate physical model ex-
periments and numerical simulation show that small
particle size quartz sand can be transported over long
distances, and the support profile can be further opti-
mized by multi-level combination and multi-layer place-
ment of proppant. In quartz sand tests in several oil fields
of PetroChina, the application ratio of quartz sand in-
creased from 47.9% in 2014 to 71.5% in 2020. Quartz sand
has been used in shale oil reservoir fracturing in
Changqing Oilfield. In Xinjiang Oilfield, quartz sand has
been used to replace ceramsite in Mahu shale oil reser-
voirs at depth of 3500 m or less, saving proppant cost up
to 590 million RMB from March to August 2020.
1.5. Large well pad three-dimensional development
mode
In response to low oil prices, a new theory of high-ef-
ficiency field-wide horizontal well development in three
dimensions has emerged in North America. It adopts
multi-layer superimposed three-dimensional development
mode to achieve the recovery of all resources in vertical
direction and ensure efficient development of unconven-
tional oil and gas, with wells arrangement and comple-
tion done in one time. Since 2010, this development
model has been adopted in Permian basin, where each
well pad has more than 20 wells; wells in the Wolfcamp
Formation and Spraberry Formation have horizontal sec-
tions 1500–3000 m long and 1500–2000 m long respec-
tively; the well spacing was 85–150 m within the same
layer and 85 m between layers; the single well cost reduced
by 15%–30% and production increased by 15%–25%[29].
With the idea of "multi-layer, three-dimension, large
well cluster and factory operation", PetroChina explored a
new development mode of large platform multi-layer well
placement and three-dimensional fracturing in Hua H60
of Changqing Oilfield and Ma131 of Xinjiang Oilfield, etc.
On Hua H60 well pad of Changqing Oilfield, 22 wells
targetting 3 small layers were drilled, with horizontal
section of 1507 m long and 20.8 stages and 121 clusters
fractured per well on average. After completed, the well
pad had a daily oil production of 360 t and annual oil
production of 11×104 t. On Ma 131 well pad of Xinjiang
Oilfield, 12 wells were drilled in three dimensions, and
had 1132 fractures created in 331 fracturing stages. The
wells had an average production 15 t/d higher than
neighboring wells in the same period, and a rise of esti-
mated recovery rate from 10% to 17%[30].
2. Challenges faced by shale oil reservoir
stimulation technology
Overall, PetroChina shale oil development is still in the
early stage of production capacity building, although
Changqing, Xinjiang and Tuha Oilfields have made faster
progress, it is quite difficult to achieve economic devel-
 1202 
opment of shale oil at current oil prices. For the overall
development scheme of 300×104 t of shale oil in
Changqing Oilfield with EUR (Estimated Ultimate Re-
covery of a single well) of 2.4×104 t, the average single
well cost will be 2524 RMB/t, or about $50/bbl ($315/m3).
Drilling and fracturing cost of Jimsar shale oil, Xinjiang
Oilfield in 2019 was 61 million RMB, with EUR of 2.6×104
t, the internal rate of return calculated was −6.2% with
progressive oil prices. The authors believe there are
challenges in the following four aspects.
2.1. Challenges to three-dimensional stimulation
technology due to multi-layers superimposition of
shale oil vertically
Unlike the widely stable distributed marine shale oil
reservoirs in North American basins, continental shale oil
reservoirs in China are characterized by strong planar
heterogeneity and vertical superimposition of multi-lay-
ers. The previously adopted single-layer well deployment
has problems of low producing degree and high costs, etc.
The development model with three-dimensional fractur-
ing and horizontal well has made remarkable achieve-
ments in North America, and is an idea we can draw on.
But in-depth research is still necessary in fine reservoir
description, sweet spot identification, well deployment on
platform, well spacing optimization and three-dimen-
sional fracturing plan design. The following issues need
to be addressed: (1) sweet spot identification and hori-
zontal well trajectory design; (2) the best well density for
maximizing benefits; (3) the best staggering well spacing
for three-dimensional well deployment; (4) whether mul-
tiple wells should be arranged in a superposed pattern or
in a staggering pattern; (5) whether hydraulic fractures
overlap vertically; (6) whether the best fracturing se-
quence is top-down or bottom-up; (7) how to prevent
fractures in combination wells from "colliding".
2.2. Challenges to the optimization of fracturing
schemes due to complex fluid flow pattern in shale oil
reservoirs
Shale oil reservoirs have permeability at the nano-
darcy level with complex and variable fluid flow pattern,
the relationships between EUR and benefit related pa-
rameters such as well spacing, fracture spacing and
fracturing scale still need optimization. For example, for
well spacing optimization, the well spacing in shale oil
reservoir of the Tiaohu Formation of Tuha Oilfield was
gradually reduced from the 400 m to 100 m in field test,
and no inter-well fractures have been found. But more
inter-well fractures were found in the shale oil reservoirs
of Changqing Oilfield at well spacing of 200 m. Therefore,
the fracture-controlled reserve volume and fluid flow
pattern in different shale oil reservoirs need to be studied
further to optimize the fracturing parameters pertinently
and make the fracturing scheme design more scientific.
 LEI Qun et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2021, 48(5): 1198–1207
Meanwhile, due to complex morphology of artificial
fractures, the evaluation of fracture length, height and
width is not only important for understanding fractures
and guiding fracturing scheme design, but also crucial for
guiding the whole life cycle production of oil and gas
wells. It is urgent to develop fracture diagnostic technol-
ogy that can identify and quantitatively characterize the
scale of complex fracture networks.
2.3. Challenges to the recovery of remaining reserves
between wells and between fractures due to large well
spacing and cluster spacing in early development
In the early stage of shale oil development, the well
spacing was basically 400 m due to mismatch of hori-
zontal well technology. Later field coring and production
dynamic analysis show that with the current engineering
technology, the artificial fractures are less than 100 m
long, leaving a large amount of undeveloped reserves
between wells. After the secondary infilling of well pat-
tern, due to reservoir heterogeneity, the fracturing of the
infilled wells would be interfered by the stress field of the
neighboring wells in the early stage, and the frac-hit is
likely to occur during the fracturing of the combination
wells. Therefore, frac-hit reducing measures need to be
researched further. Meanwhile, with large cluster spacing
and low pumping rate, the horizontal wells at the early
stage of development were not completely stimulated,
leaving unrecovered reserves between fractures, therefore
refracturing becomes a must choice during the whole life
cycle of shale oil horizontal wells. Refracturing faces five
main challenges: (1) challenge in characterizing remain-
ing oil distribution, and reconstructing flow field; (2)
challenge in reconstructing dynamic stress field due to
the complex stress field change pattern before refractur-
ing; (3) challenge in reconstructing the horizontal well-
bore due to lack of effective sealing tools in fractured
wellbore; (4) challenge in determining the time point of
refracturing due to lack of technology to evaluate the
refracturing timing; (5) challenge in evaluating refrac-
turing effect, due to lack of re-evaluation method.
2.4. Low cost of horizontal well staged multiple-
cluster large-scale fracturing as the main shale oil
reservoir stimulation technology
The increase in the number of fracturing stages and
sand adding intensity, as well as higher drilling rate,
would lead to increase of the proportion of fracturing
costs in drilling and completion costs. Therefore, to cope
with the low oil price effectively, it is necessary to reduce
fracturing costs and increase production capacity of shale
oil well[31]. Thanks to well deployment from well-pad and
factory-like operations, fracturing time efficiency has
increased from 4.2 to 10 stages per day, but in China, the
average number of shale oil wells per well-pad is smaller,
and the average fracturing time efficiency remains low
 1203 
(2–5 stages/d) due to various factors, showing a large gap
with large well-pad factory-like operations in North
America. It is difficult to increase the proportion of
slick-water in some shale oil blocks. Slick-water takes up
61.5% on the average and 85.5% at most of the fracturing
fluid used in China. Although the work of replacing ce-
ramsite with quartz sand is pushing forward in an orderly
manner, the proportion of transport cost is high, making
it harder to reduce the costs of fracturing materials.
3. Technical development direction of shale
oil reservoir stimulation technology
Continental shale oil is an inevitable choice as China's
continental oil and gas exploration shifts focus from
"out-of-source" reservoir to "in-source" reservoir. Me-
dium-to-high mature shale oil is the realistic target for
our oil exploration and development in the near future,
and reservoir stimulation will definitely play a more im-
portant role in the effective exploration and development
of shale oil. In light of shale oil reservoirs and technical
requirements on stimulation technology of PetroChina,
by reviewing the main progress and challenges of shale
oil reservoir stimulation technology, we think that Pet-
roChina should learn from the successful experience of
shale oil development in North America, and focus the
development of shale oil reservoir stimulation technology
in the following aspects:
3.1. Strengthen the integrated geology-engineering
research to utilize reservoir stimulation technology
3.1.1. Deepen basic theoretical study on reservoir
stimulation
It is necessary to further strengthen basic studies on
ground stress field and well network arrangement, rock
mechanics and fracture expansion, proppant transport
and fracture conductivity in shale oil reservoirs, identify
geological sweet spots and engineering sweet spots, and
reveal the mechanism of formation fluid-solid coupling,
to improve the pertinence of shale oil reservoir stimula-
tion. The identification and prediction technology of
sweet spots need to be improved by using three-dimen-
sional geological modeling technology, and conducting
quantitative evaluation of spatial distribution of key pa-
rameters, fracability, and recoverability; the dynamic
ground stress field needs to be described to get real-time
ground stress distribution by pre-fracturing ground stress
field modeling, measuring ground stress while drilling,
predicting spatial and temporal evolution of three-di-
mensional ground stress field; the fracture initiation law
and its main control factors need to be revealed by un-
derstanding rock mechanics and fracture expansion law,
developing technologies of high temperature rock me-
chanics, large physical modeling and three-dimensional
characterization of bedding and weak surface fracture
 LEI Qun et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2021, 48(5): 1198–1207

expansion; it is necessary to develop a large physical
model of sand transport and study the proppant trans-
port and settlement characteristics under the slick-water
reverse-order sand transport stimulation mode, to guide
the optimization of fracturing fluid types and parameters.
3.1.2. Establishment of field laboratory for hydraulic
fracture study
By drawing fully on the results of field tests in China
and abroad[32–35] (Table 1), and focusing on the enhance-
ment of single-well production and reserve producing
degree, integrated field test laboratory needs to be built
in key shale oil areas to research the optimization of
fracturing technology, materials, parameters and scale,
test fracturing technologies designed for increasing pro-
duction, reducing costs and improving efficiency, and
establish prolific well templates to guide efficient shale
oil and gas development. In the field laboratory, a variety
of monitoring and evaluation technologies such as DFIT
(diagnostic fracture injection test), full-diameter coring,
tracer, micro-seismic, DTS/DAS/DSS (distributed Raman
temperature sensing system/distributed acoustic sensing
system/distributed strain sensing system), and CSEM
(controlled source electromagnetic method) can be used
to deepen the understandings on scientific issues such as
fracture morphology to guide the selection of well spac-
ing, fracture spacing, fracturing parameters and refrac-
turing measures.
3.1.3. Improve integrated geological-engineering
reservoir stimulation software platform
The FrSmart integrated geo-engineering fracturing op-
timization design software platform developed by Re-
search Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development,
PetroChina has taken shape. We should draw on the most
advanced international achievements and the advantages
of global mainstream commercial software, establish
international standards, and realize seamless integration
between modules, and the trend of digitalization and
intelligence. Given the complex geological characteristics
of oil and gas reservoirs in China, we should conduct
top-level design, set functional modules, and continu-
ously develop and improve the FrSmart integrated
geo-engineering fracturing optimization design software
platform by making use of technological innovation out-
comes to make its functions more practical, models more
advanced, performance more complete, and gradually
make it an IT-based intelligent platform.
3.2. Deepen the study on fracture-controlled
fracturing technology to improve producing degree
of shale oil reserves
As mentioned earlier, the promotion of fracture-con-
trolled fracturing technology in PetroChina shale oil de-
velopment has achieved good results. Unconventional
fracturing operations in North America showed parame-
ters turning better and then worse, indicating there are
optimal values for fracture spacing and operation
scale[36–38]. Therefore, it is necessary to further deepen the
studies on four major relationships, namely rock proper-
ties and fracture expansion mechanism, horizontal sec-
tion length and fracture density, reservoir fluid flow and
fracture flow coupling, and match of artificial fracture
with well spacing in well pattern. In a payback period of
3–5 a, the optimal well spacing, fracture spacing, eco-
nomic conductivity capacity, and fracturing scale of shale
oil horizontal wells in different regions and reservoir
conditions need to be worked out to maximize the frac-
ture control and recovery of reserves.
3.3. Promote horizontal well three-dimensional
development mode to realize the production of
multiple layers longitudinally
Going through exploration of infilling wells, three-di-
mensional layer-by-layer development, and three-dimen-
sional overall development, North American unconven-
tional oil and gas development has entered completely in
the stage of horizontal well three-dimensional develop-

Table 1. Monitoring methods and results used by shale oil and gas field laboratory test in North American.
Project name Monitoring methods Understandings
DFIT for 4 wells, wall coring, core (1) The fracture complexity beyond that of current numerical simulation modeling.
analysis, proppant tracer for 3 (2) Tensile fractures and shear fractures coexist; the support fractures are only
wells, fracturing fluid tracer for 8
about 10 m high. (3) There is a large amount of unbroken small-grain quartz sand
HFTS
wells, micro-seismic, inclinometer, on the fracture surface of the core. Large fractures 0.5 to 1.0 cm wide filled with
bottom hole pressure gauge, coring quartz sand are commonly present in the cores. (4) Energy spectrum logging
of large deviation well at 182 m analysis indicates that more than 90% of the clusters are stimulated
Well wall coring, core analysis, (1) Cores taken from vertical wells have natural fractures, induced fractures, and
micro-seismic monitoring, horizontal bedding; (2) A large amount of slow slips occur during the fracturing
MSEEL
DTS/DAS, production logging, process; (3) DTS shows that the temperature of the fractured stage would
vertical well coring at 34 m rapidly recover to the reservoir temperature
(1) There are a large number of hydraulic fractures, far exceeding the number
Dual well micro-seismic, DTS/DAS, of perforation clusters; the fracture complexity is related to the cluster spacing;
Conoco-Phillips bottom hole pressure gauge, tracer, beddings and weak surfaces, etc. affect the fracture complexity. (2) DTS/DAS
Eagle Ford radioactive proppant, coring from show that all clusters contain fluid, but not uniform in volume. (3) Density of
pilot test Well S2 at 61 m, coring from Well fractures in core is not directly related to micro-seismic events. (4) DAS shows
S3 at 110 m that some of the fractures are 457 m long, and the fractures extend upward
to the Buda Formation and downward to the Austin Formation.
 1204 
 LEI Qun et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2021, 48(5): 1198–1207
ment. In this stage, thanks to the dramatic increase in
drilling speed, horizontal wells in superimposed and
staggering pattern can be deployed to tap oil in multiple
layers to increase the reserves-producing degree in verti-
cal profile and improve quality and efficiency. In contrast,
the "multi-layer, three-dimensional and factory-opera-
tion" mode of shale oil development has just started in
China. In line with the multi-layer superimposed shale oil
reservoirs in China, we need to learn from the North
American experience, and research well deployment for
multi-layers on well-pad, horizontal wellbore trajectory,
optimal well pattern density, three-dimensional fractur-
ing mode and fracture morphology, etc., to make uncon-
ventional resource development profitable. We need to
strengthen research on shale oil geomechanics, shorten
the iterative cycle of field sweet spot identification, im-
prove the accuracy of continental shale oil sweet spot
identification, and sort out the best target layer for hori-
zontal well; optimize the well pattern in three-dimensional
well deployment, the inter-layer and intra-layer well
spacing; and optimize the fracturing mode and parame-
ters to maximize producing reserves on profile vertically.
3.4. Research refracturing technology for shale oil
horizontal wells to efficiently develop the remaining
reserves between fractures
In light of the five challenges in refracturing of shale
oil horizontal wells, we should research refracturing
technology of horizontal wells, and develop a series of
supporting technologies such as "remaining oil descrip-
tion, stress field analysis, evaluation of previous fractur-
ing, selection of refracturing timing, scale design, casing
re-engineering, and post-fracturing tracking" to match
flow field, stress field and fracture system again to im-
prove the stimulation effect. For casing re-engineering
technology, North America has developed mature ex-
pandable tail pipe and tail pipe cementing technology, in
which expandable tail pipe can improve the pres-
sure-bearing level of overall casing column. The casing of
139.7 mm (5.5 in) after repaired will have a diameter of
more than 106 mm, and internal pressure resistance of 70
MPa and external pressure resistance of 35 MPa[39]. Tail
pipe cementing involves running 88.9 mm (3.5 in), 101.6
mm (4.0 in), or 114.3 mm (4.5 in) tail pipe inside 114.3
mm (4.5 in) or 139.7 mm (5.5 in) casing, and is applicable
under the condition of bottomhole temperatures of
100–180 °C and horizontal section lengths of 760–2100
m[40–41]. Halliburton statistics show that this technology
has been successfully applied to more than 112 wells in
Haynesville since 2016, increasing the average EUR by
about 150%; ConocoPhillips refractures about 100 hori-
zontal wells per year, with mainly the refracturing tech-
nology of tail pipe cementing[42–43]. China still mainly
adopts the dynamic multi-stage temporary plugging and
diverting and double-sealing single-stick technology for
 1205 
refracturing. For dynamic multi-stage temporary plug-
ging and diverting technology, it is difficult to initiate
new fractures and predict the stimulation effect due to
the influence of the original perforations and depleted
fractures. The operation of double-sealing single-stick
technology has poor efficiency. Therefore, the refractur-
ing technology of expandable tail pipe and tail pipe ce-
menting need to be developed.
3.5. Develop low-cost stimulation supporting
technology to help reduce the cost and increase the
efficiency of development
3.5.1. Develop shale oil horizontal well staged
stimulation tools
Key tools and equipment are crucial to productivity
and are also the major points for cost reduction and effi-
ciency improvement. We need to strengthen the research
and development of dissolvable bridge plugs and multi-
cluster perforation tools, improve rubber sleeve-free
all-metal dissolvable bridge plugs, modify setting mode,
and develop a series of all-metal dissolvable bridge plugs
for complex well conditions with different casing sizes,
steel grades, and different temperatures etc., to realize no
drilling, milling or flushing of bridge plugs after fractur-
ing, thus improving operational efficiency. In terms of
multi-cluster perforation tool, North America's modular
perforation and high-efficient setting tool has a 99%
success rate and a maximum of 24 clusters in a stage,
compared with 14 clusters in China. Therefore, it is ur-
gent for us to research high-efficient long horizontal sec-
tion clustering perforation tools to achieve safe perfora-
tion in a single stage with 20 clusters or more.
3.5.2. Continuously reduce costs of fracturing materials
The proportion of low-cost slick-water should be in-
creased. The proportion of slick-water used in shale oil
reservoir has reached 100% in North America, while that
in China remains relatively low at 70%. We should
strengthen fracturing fluid recycling, use oilfield waste
water, re-injection water, water separated from flowback
liquid or shallow desert water to prepare fracturing fluid
directly, to significantly reduce the environment risk in-
curred by fracturing fluid, and provide technical guaran-
tee for "no landing" of fracturing fluid. In light of the
characteristics of China’s shale oil reservoirs and stress
loading conditions, we need to put more efforts into the
field test and promotion of low-cost quartz sand prop-
pant, increase the proportion of quartz sand instead of
ceramsite, accelerate the evaluation of localization and
economics of quartz sand source and set up quartz sand
industrial bases, so as to effectively control fracturing
proppant costs.
3.5.3. Develop information technology
As information technology develops fast, the reservoir
 LEI Qun et al. / Petroleum Exploration and Development, 2021, 48(5): 1198–1207
stimulation system involves many aspects, such as reser-
voir information, oil casing parameters, perforation de-
gree, sealing tool performance, stimulation plan, surface
wellhead conditions, fracturing equipment status and
instrumentation monitoring. The Internet of Things (IoT)
can be used to collect, exchange, integrate, direct the
information in above aspects and endow it artificial in-
telligence, and ultimately make reservoir stimulation
artificially intelligent. Information technology can im-
prove the level of factory-like operations and help reduce
costs and improve efficiency in the whole cycle.
International oil companies commonly combine "un-
conventional reservoir" and "big data" to establish big
data bases including operation, production, well con-
struction, reservoir engineering, and geoscience to help
shorten drilling cycles, optimize completion designs, and
reduce unconventional oil and gas development costs[44].
PetroChina is strengthening the information construc-
tion, and based on the collaborative research environ-
ment of the Dream Cloud platform, a remote deci-
sion-making center for fracturing and acidification can be
built, big data technology should be developed to offer
online support to the whole process including fracturing
optimization design, operation monitoring and remote
diagnosis, and post-fracturing evaluation, to improve the
quality and efficiency in the whole process.
4. Conclusions
After more than 10 years of development, shale oil
reservoir stimulation technology of PetroChina has made
significant progress in five aspects: reservoir stimulation
mechanism, fracture-controlled fracturing technology,
integrated geological-engineering reservoir stimulation
design platform, low-cost material technology and large
well-pad three-dimensional development mode, effec-
tively supporting the construction of shale oil production
capacity in oil fields such as Changqing and Xinjiang.
However, overall, the shale oil development in China is
still in the initial stage. As oil price lingers at medium to
low levels long, it is more challenging to achieve eco-
nomic development, the requirements and technical dif-
ficulty of reservoir stimulation technology are getting
higher. We should strengthen the integrated geo-engi-
neering research, deepen the fracture-controlled fractur-
ing technology, promote horizontal well three-dimen-
sional development mode, research refracturing tech-
nology of shale oil horizontal wells, develop low-cost
stimulation supporting technology, explore shale oil
stimulation technology systems suitable for different
blocks and different reservoir characteristics, and strive
to realize large-scale profitable shale oil development. We
should make shale oil a new strategic growth point to
guarantee national energy security.
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