From Tight Oil & Gas to Shale Oil & Gas——Approach for the Development of Unconventional Oil & Gas in China

Unlike other countries,China often count tight oil gas as conventional resources statistically.In fact,the tight oil gas has accounted for a considerable percentage in the oil gas production and reserves of the US and China,in particular the mix of resources to be discovered.With success in the development of tight oil gas,on the whole,China has reached an advanced international level in the two technology series: horizontal well and fracturing,thereby creating conditions for the development of coal seam gas and shale oil gas.The great advancement of shale gas in the US brought about drop of gas prices and facilitated the development of shale oil in turn;consequently,its oil production changes from long term falling to rising.The lessons from the development of coal seam gas in China indicate that inefficient management system and lacking of market environment are two primary factors impeding the development of unconventional oil gas.In view of the symbiotic and associated features of various resources,we should advocate comprehensive exploration,development and utilization in the development of oil gas,in particular that of unconventional oil gas.Since China’s research on shale oil gas is still at a low level,we should not be too anxious for quick results in their development and can only accelerate the process on the basis of respecting of exploration procedures.