Can China Duplicate US Shale Gas Revolution? Challenges between Shale Gas Resources and Supply in China

摘要

US shale gas revolution found out a new way for global energy development. In recent years, China paid more and more attention to shale gas. however, there are many differences between China and US, e.g. there are only more than one hundred shale gas exploratory and appraisal wells, no shale gas reservoir is extensively in production, and no matured procedures for shale gas resources appraisal, reserves calculation and producing ability forecast in China. With very different shale gas geological characteristics, standards and practices of US could not be simply duplicated to China. Shale gas exploration and development in China still has a long way to go. To bring shale gas resources into production, we need to consider China's situation and major challenges, i.e., the current recoverable resources and our understanding level of exploration and development (lack of critical technologies), clean energy and environmental protection requirements, high costs and low gas prices etc. This paper discusses how to realize shale gas development together with environment protection through analyses of the major challenges and supplies of shale gas resources in China.