Sinopec discovers new shale oil reserve in southwest China

China’s state-owned oil major Sinopec said on Thursday it discovered a new shale oil reserve in the southwestern Sichuan Basin.

The exploratory well Qiluye 1, drilled by Sinopec Exploration Company in the Qijiang district of Chongqing, found a shale oil reserve with an estimated resource base of over 100 million metric tons, or about 730 million barrels, in the Sichuan Basin, the company said.

The estimate was made after the well produced a daily flow of 38.64 cubic meters of oil and 10,000 cubic meters of natural gas during testing, according to the company’s press release.

The company said it previously discovered the Qijiang shale gas field in 2022 and later expanded exploration into shale oil resources in the area.

The latest find expands the unconventional resource potential in Qijiang, forming a gas-below, oil-above layered structure with the existing shale gas field, the company said.

Sinopec has also identified three other shale formations and produced about 705,000 tons of shale oil in 2024, contributing to China’s annual shale oil output of more than 6 million tons.

Reuters