Petroleum & Basin Analysis InstituteJilin University
15/10/2008
Characteristics of continental oil shale and oil shale resources in China
Zhaojun Liu, Qingshui Dong, Qingtao Meng
Jilin University
Characteristics of continental oil shale
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Oil shale resources in China
Characteristics of continental oil shale and oil shale resources in China
Mineral characteristic
China's continental oil shale is mainly mudstone or shale, and is composed of terrestrial clastic material. Mineral composition is quartz, feldspar and clay minerals. Among clay minerals, the content of kaolinite is high. Compared with marine oil shale, the content of carbonate is higher.
Characteristics of continental oil shale
Relatively content(%) Quartz Feldspar Kaolinte Montm-
orilloriteMixed mineral Illite Carbo-
nate
Dalianhe 33 3 57 3 4
11
5
8
Maoming 31 7 46 3 9 4
Estonia (marine) 9 6.8 14 56.1
Huadian 14 2 2 57 22
Nong`an 50 20 1 12 3
Luozigou 51 34 6 4
Fushun 55 13 13 8 16
Organic geochemical characteristics
1. Abundance of organic matterThe content of organic carbon in China's oil shale is
between 7.48% and 38.02%, the average is 21.46%, and mainly concentrated in the range between 10% and 30%.
Histogram of organic carbon distribution of oil shale
Num
bers
of s
ampl
es TOC (%)
Characteristics of continental oil shale
2. The types of organic matter
The types of organic matter of China's oil shale are mainly sapropelitic (Ⅰ) and humosapropelic type (Ⅱ1),secondarily, sapropelic-humic type (Ⅱ2)
H/C
rat
io
O/C ratio
Hyd
roge
n in
dex
Oxygen index
Organic geochemical characteristics
Characteristics of continental oil shale
3. Maturity of Organic matter
Sample areas Province Ro(%)
Types of organic matter
Tmax(℃)
Dalianhe HeilongjiangJilin
LiaoningGuangdong
ShanxiXinjiang
0.46 II2 423Luozigou 0.48 I-II1 437Fushun 0.49 I 443
Maoming 0.51 I-II1 428Tongchuan 0.51 II2 432Sangonghe 0.51 II1 435
Ro of oil shale is 0.41%~0.60%, and Tmax is 423~446℃, so China's oil shale is mostly at immature-low mature stage of thermal evolution
Organic geochemical characteristics
Characteristics of continental oil shale
Quality characteristics
1. Oil yield
Oil yield is the most important parameter of oil shale evaluation. In 2006, “National evaluation of oil shale resources in China” established that the boundary of oil yield is higher than 3.5%, it can be divided into three classes of low, middle and high : 3.5%<ω≤5%, 5%<ω≤10% and ω>10%.
Shale oil resources whose oil yield in weight is higher than 5% takes up 67.64% of the total shale oil resources of the country, so the quality of China's oil shale is middle in general.
Characteristics of continental oil shale
Nongan Luozigou
Fushun Denglouku
When oil yield in weight is higher than 3.5%, the content of organic carbon is usually higher than 6%. So the content of organic carbon could become one of indicators for helping judging oil shale.
Quality characteristicsCharacteristics of continental oil shale
2. Ash content
Ash content is the key indicator that distinguishes oil shale and coal. Generally, the ash content of oil shale is >40%
The ash contents of oil shale in main petroliferous shale areas in China are between 53.27% and 84.35%. By statistics the data of 54 petroliferous shale areas in China, the ash content of China's oil shale could be divided into two classes:
Low ash content: ash content is <65%, oil yield is >10%
High ash content: ash content is 65~90%,oil yield is 3.5~10%.
Thus,China's oil shale mostly belongs to high ash content oil shale.
Quality characteristicsCharacteristics of continental oil shale
3. Caloric value
Caloric value is an important parameter for evaluating the industrial fuels.
Caloric values of China's oil shale in each area are very different, Caloric value of Nong`an oil shale in Jilin Province is the lowest and is 4.19MJ/kg, and the caloric value of Ao`cheng oil shale in Jiangxi Province is the highest and is 34.60MJ/kg.
Thus oil shale with high caloric value can be directly used to generate electricity, and the ash after retorting can also be used for electric generation, which is a good way for comprehensive utilization of oil shale.
Quality characteristicsCharacteristics of continental oil shale
Characteristics of continental oil shale
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Oil shale resources in China
Characteristics of continental oil shale and oil shale resources in China
Mineralization model ofoil shale bearing basin
Oil shale in China is mostly deposited in continental environments, and concentrates in depression lake basins and fault deep lake basins.
545.2
84.2
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Depression deep lake fault deep lake
Taking up 76% of the
country
Taking up 12% of the
country
Billion tons
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Oil shale mainly deposited in
the 1st member of Qingshankou
Formation and the 1st and 2nd
member of Nenjiang Formation
of Upper Cretaceous.U
pper C
retaceous
Yaojia
Nenjiang
Qingshankou
(1)Strata characteristics
1.Depression deep lake basin—Songliao Basin
Songliao basin is a large scale depression basin during the period of oil shale deposition. The 1st member of Qingshankou and 2nd of Nenjiang Formation develop in Post-rift thermo-subsidence supersequence set
(2) Tectonic background
Mineralization model ofoil shale bearing basin
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Yao5 Yao6 Yao9 Hai7 Qsh10
QingShan
Kou
(3) Sedimentary environment
Mineralization model ofoil shale bearing basin
Base-level change curve of Songliaobasin corresponds to sea-level change curve of the world.
Oil shale is the product of the two lake flooding periods
The 1st member of Qingshankou Formation: Upper AldanianThe 1st and 2nd member of Nenjiang Formation : Turonian
Genetic types of continental oil shale
① Sea transgresstion
Sr/Ba curve of Songnan 15
Sr/Ba curve of Wan3
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Mineralization model ofoil shale bearing basin
Perhaps exist transgression in K2qn1and K2n2
Evidence 1: Sr/Ba ratio
Qingshankou Formation: Pelecypoda fossil, fishbone, et.Nenjiang Formation: Pelecypoda fossil.1st member of Nenjiang Formation: Jilinichthys, Hama,
teeth fossil of shark, coral fossil and foraminifer fossil (GaoRuiqi, 1985; Ye Dequan, 1985).
Evidence 2:
Ta212 well, coral fossil , Qingshankou FormationTa212 well, coral fossil , Qingshankou Formation
Ta212 well, foraminifer fossil, Qingshankou Formation
Ta212 well, foraminifer fossil, Qingshankou Formation
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Mineralization model ofoil shale bearing basin
Marine fossils
The two times of flooding and transgression caused
Songliao basin to have an anoxic environment. The
formation of black shale (oil shale ) is usually related to
anoxic environments; anaerobic conditions are
favorable for the conservation of organic matter, so
there formed three sets of black shale, mudstone and
oil shale
② anoxic environment
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Mineralization model ofoil shale bearing basin
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Mineralization model ofoil shale bearing basin
Evidence 1: Stratification of lake water
Sea transgression causes a kind of salintystratification, which makes the bottom of the lake an anoxic environment
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Mineralization model ofoil shale bearing basin
Evidence 2: V/V+Ni ratioMicrogram/gram
Sample place Nong`an Hei100 Songyan10 Songyan9 Songyan4
Well number yyy7 yyy39 yyy108 yyy105 Songyan4
V 76.80 90.00 114.00 115.55 103.16
Co 12.70 27.40 19.84 12.77 13.10
Ni 46.70 51.50 32.06 27.94 31.57
Mo 5.01 2.93 8.04 5.27 3.70
Zn 100.00 216.00 97.58 83.95 75.86
Sr 87.00 142.00 340.00 180.00 140.00
Ba 289.00 196.00 290.00 410.00 370.00
Sr/Ba 0.30104 0.72449 1.17241 0.43902 0.37838
V/V+Ni 0.62186 0.63604 0.78053 0.80526 0.76569
Oil shale deposits in anoxic and fresh lake sedimentary
< 1>0.5
Thickness contour of K1qn1 Thickness contour of K1n2
Oil yield and thickness of oil shale increase in the direction of Songliao basin subsidence
Mineralization model ofoil shale bearing basin
lithofaciespaleographic map
Qnsh Formation
Genetic types of continental oil shale
(4) Depression deep lake oil shale (fresh water)
Oil shale mainly develop in Transgressive System Tract (TST) and Highstand System Tract (HST). Usually the deeper the water, the higher the oil yield and the greater the thickness, as typically represented in the Mesozoic Songliao, Junggar and Ordos basins.
Mineralization model ofoil shale bearing basin
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Oil shale of Qingshankou Fomation in Nong`anpetroliferous area(Qingshankou exploration area)
In TST,the times of lake-level and sedimentary cycles controls the layer numbers of oil shale. There is a sedimentary overlap in the direction of the basin, and shows regressive sedimentary
2. Fault deep lake basin (1) sequence characteristics
LST
TST
HST
RST
Pyrite
Oil shale
Oil shale
GongliangtouDachengziBeitaizi
北台子勘
查区大城子勘查区 公郎头勘查区
南部勘查区
Huadian Basin
MFS
IFS13 layer recoverable oil shale
Thickness isoline of Huadian basin
Oil yield isoline of Huadian basin
(2) Fault deep lake oil shale (fresh or brackish)
Oil shale also develops in TST and HST, but the thickness and oil yield is obviously controlled by synsdimentary faulting, becoming thicker and richer in the direction of the fault, such as in Cenozoic Huadian, Fushun and Maoming Basins.
Mineralization model ofoil shale bearing basin
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Characteristics of continental oil shale
Genetic types of continental oil shale
Oil shale resources in China
Characteristics of continental oil shale and oil shale resources in China
From 2004 to 2006, Jilin University developed “first national oil shale evaluation ”in China. Results show that oil shale resource in China is very abundant and widely distributed
Oil shale resources in China Oil shale resources in China
Oil shale resources of China are estimated as 719.9 billion tons, i.e., 47.6 billion tons of in-place recoverable shale oil. The recoverable resources of conventional hydrocarbon are 12 billion tons after deducing the loss of oil shale development and carbonization
20 Provinces47 basins
80 petroliferous shale area
Evaluation results in different areas of China
Oil shale is mainly distributed in eastern China, Central China and Qinghai-Tibet Area
16.8
4.3
9.8
2.4
7.3
2 1.1 0.5
12.7
2.8
02468
101214161820
Easternarea
Centralarea
Westernarea
Southernarea
Qinghai-Tibet area
Billion tons Eastern area takes up
35% of the country
Shale oil resource
Recoverable Shale oil resource
Mainly distributed in Songliao, Ordos, Lunpola and Junggar Basin
Evaluation results in different basins
15.4
9.68.7
5.54
1.6 1 0.4 0.2 0.202468
10121416
SongliaoOrdosLunpolaJunggarQiangtangChaidamuMaomingDayangshuFushunSichuan
Shale oil resource
(32%)
(20%)(18%)
(12%)
Billion tons
Evaluation results in different strata
Oil shale in China ranges in age widely and is most concentrated in Mesozoic strata.
10.5
2.7
31.7
7.85.5
1.5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
Cenozoic Mesozoic Upper Palaozoic
Shale oil resources Recoverable shale oil resources
Taking up 67%of the country
Billion tons
Controlled by dynamic systems of Paleo-Asiatic Ocean, Tethys-Paleo-Pacific and Indian-Pacific Ocean,the age of oil shale formation is gradually younger from Northwest to Southeast.
Distribution of oil shale
bearing basins
(Based on Jishun Ren,2005)
Fushun oil shale mine(biggest producing base in China)Established in 1928. In 1959, production per year was 720,000 tons, constituting more than 50% of the country’s production. In 2007, production of shale oil per year was 310,000 tons.
Oil shale resources in China Development of China`s oil shale
The mine is planning to produce 710,000 tons in 2010.
Biggest opencast mine in Asia
1. The oil yield of China's oil shale is mainly middle rank, and most are high-ash oil shale. The caloric values are different in each area; the type of organic matter of oil shale concentrate in Sapropelific (Ⅰ) and humic-sapropelic (Ⅱ1)type.
2. China's oil shale is concentrated in continental environments, and could be divided into depression deep lake type and fault deep lake type. The water characters that oil shale formed in are fresh and brackish, and oil shale usually forms in anoxic environments.
3. Oil shale resources in China are abundant, widely distributed in 20 provinces, 47 basins and 80 petroliferous shale area. Oil shale resources are estimated as 719.9 billion tons and the recoverable shale oil resources are estimated as 12 billion tons.
Conclusions
Conditions of oil shale formation
The favorable conditions for oil shale formation are as follows:
1. anaerobic environmentGenerally, anaerobic lakes are favorable environments for oil shale formation, which aid in the preservation of organic matter
2. Salinity condition of lake waterFresh and salty environments can both form oil shale, but lakes with high pH value could have higher production and dissolve more phosphorus, and phosphorus is one of main nutrients of initial productivity of lakes
Genetic types of continental oil shale
2、Huadian Oil Shale Mine
At present, the production of shale oil in Huadian is more than 70,000 tons.
Now Fuxin Mining Group and Chengda Group is investing to develop Huadian oil shale, and planning to produce 300,000 tons oil shale
Oil shale resources in China Development of China`s oil shale
3、Luozigou Oil Shale Mine
Development began in 1958;
In 2007, the production of shale oil per year is 30,000 tons
Oil shale resources in China Development of China`s oil shale