ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Earth Sci.
Sec. Georeservoirs
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feart.2025.1596917
This article is part of the Research TopicAdvances in Accumulation Conditions of Unconventional Oil and Gas Resources in Complicated Structure AreasView all articles
Differential accumulation mechanism of shale gas in superimposed basin: Insights from dynamic evolution of shale gas content and occurrence state
Provisionally accepted
- 1SINOPEC Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute, Beijing, China
- 2State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, Beijing, China
- 3CNOOC Research Institute Company Limited, Beijing, China
- 4College of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, China
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Exploration and development of shale gas are hampered by the unclear process of shale gas differential accumulation in superimposed basins. By examining the evolution of shale gas generation, storage, adjustment and accumulation in various structural backgrounds of 2 / 48 superimposed basins, this research seeks to uncover the differential accumulation mechanism of shale gas. An improved evaluation method of shale gas content evolution in superimposed basin is proposed. This approach takes into account the coupling effect of several geological factors, such as temperature, pressure, organic matter abundance and maturity, and pore characteristics, on the content and occurrence state of shale gas, in addition to the configuration relationship between shale gas generation and storage in geological evolution processes. This technique then restores and compares the evolution histories of Longmaxi shale gas in wells N201 and PY1 under various geological settings in the Sichuan Basin. It demonstrates how the type, abundance, and maturity of organic matter work together to determine the amount of gas generated at the maximum burial depth; how organic pores develop; how formation temperature and pressure primarily regulate changes in shale gas storage capacity; and how tectonic uplift influences shale gas preservation conditions, which in turn regulate shale gas adjustment and accumulation. Lastly, the four-stage differential accumulation model of shale gas is developed: Slow gas generation and only adsorbed gas occur in stage Ⅰ, which is primarily controlled by TOC content; both adsorbed gas and free gas occur in stage Ⅱ, with free gas starting to dominate; quick gas generation and free gas domination are primarily controlled by temperature and porosity in stage Ⅲ; and gas adjustment and accumulation are primarily controlled by temperature and pressure in stage Ⅳ.
Keywords: Differential enrichment of shale gas, Gas content evolution, Gas adsorption, Free gas, Tectonic uplift, Superimposed basin
Received: 20 Mar 2025; Accepted: 13 May 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, PANG, Zhao, Chen, Wang, Wan, Wang and Ge. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Min Li, SINOPEC Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute, Beijing, China
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