We've found a treasure! What exactly is the shale gas everyone is talking about?

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Sinopec releases news

Major breakthrough in shale gas exploration in Sichuan Basin

The geological resources evaluated and confirmed reached 387.8 billion cubic meters

Daily natural gas production can reach 258,600 cubic meters

Image source: CCTV News

What is the concept?

If we calculate based on one cubic meter of natural gas per household per day

The daily natural gas production of this exploration well can meet

Nearly 260,000 households use

As an efficient and clean energy

Shale gas worldwide

Widely distributed and huge reserves

It is the most promising unconventional natural gas resource.

Shale gas is closely related to our lives

How much do you know?

What is shale gas?

In layman's terms, shale gas is natural gas produced in shale layers. It is the same gas that burns in our normal gas stoves.

Hundreds of millions of years ago, a large number of organisms lived in deep water environments. They reproduced and thrived from generation to generation. After death, their remains slowly sank to the bottom of the water along with the mud and sand, and accumulated and compacted layer by layer to form a rock like book pages, which is shale.

Biological debris settles to the seafloor Source: Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Shale gas refers to unconventional natural gas that is found in organic-rich mudstone and its interlayers, and exists mainly in adsorbed or free states. It is mainly composed of methane, which can effectively change my country's energy structure dominated by coal. It is also an inevitable choice for ensuring energy supply, reducing external demand, and creating low carbon.

Longmaxi Formation shale in Sichuan Basin Source: Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences

How is shale gas produced?

Under the dual effects of temperature and pressure

The biological remains in the shale begin to decompose thermally to form oil

At the same time, a nanoscale pore begins to form.

As the temperature further increases

Oil is further converted into natural gas

Existing in nanoscale pores

Shale gas is continuously generated in the organic matter of shale.

Finally, it broke through the shale layer and "escaped"

Accumulates in other lithologies to form conventional natural gas

The shale gas retained in the natural pores and microcracks

Shale gas is distributed over a large area and continuously.

Shale gas has self-generation and self-storage, and no gas-water interface

Large-area continuous reservoir formation, low porosity, low permeability, etc.

Organic pores in shale Source: China Energy Research Association

Will the world run out of oil and natural gas?

What should I do when I run out of use?

According to research data released by Chinese and Russian scientists, humankind's use of resources may become even shorter, and resource depletion is coming soon. Judging from today's coal reserves, they will probably be available for human use for less than 200 years.

Natural gas source: Baidu Encyclopedia

Aren't coal, oil, and natural gas formed over many years? As long as they are formed, will the resources never run out?

It is true that some of these resources may be renewable, but human demand has exceeded the amount of resources formed, so it is difficult to meet the supply. Based on the state of resource scarcity, humans are now strengthening the development of new resources, such as wind energy, solar energy, and hydropower, which are gradually replacing the use of coal, oil, natural gas and other resources.

Source: China Energy Research Society, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Science Expo

Compiled by: Dong Xiaoxian

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