China Region
China has the world's largest population and one of the fastest growing and dynamic economies. Coal is its dominant energy source, dwarfing all other energy sources combined. Renewables are growing, but from a low base meaning that hydrocarbons, and in particular gas, continue to play an important role as a transition fuel. China imports nearly half of its natural gas, prompting recent reforms to its energy sector to attract international E & P companies to re-enter the market. The basins of China have a highly complex and varied geology, with reservoirs from fractured Precambrian basement to Neogene fluvial clastics occurring within individual basins. An improved understanding of the Junggar, Ordos, Songliao, Bohai and Subei basins has recently taken on increased importance as they have been identified as the primary centres for China’s subsurface carbon dioxide storage.
Map of Region
History of Research
Between 1991 and 2001, CASP produced 58 reports on the regional and hydrocarbon geology of Northwest, North and South China. Some reports are based on original fieldwork, others are broad regional syntheses; some involve analysis of subsurface samples. Most major basins are covered. CASP geologists returned to carry out Pre-Salt reservoir analogue studies in eastern Sichuan in 2018.
Key Geological Topics Covered
Reports cover both onshore and offshore basins, including Tarim, Junggar, Sichuan, Ordos, Songliao, Bohai and the basins of the East and South China seas. They range in scope from regional to basin-scale tectonic and stratigraphic reviews, through outcrop-scale sedimentology and petroleum systems analysis to microscopic analysis of outcrop and subsurface samples for petrography, provenance, organic geochemistry and diagenetic history. Further details can be found through links to specific sub-regions and reports.
Most Recent Reports
- Palaeoecology, taphonomy and diagenesis of Early Jurassic shell accumulations in Lake Sichuan, China, and their implications for Pre-Salt reservoirs in the South Atlantic CASP.CCPS2017-19.4
- Early Jurassic coquinas from Lake Sichuan, China – a depositional analogue for Cretaceous Pre-Salt reservoirs in the South Atlantic? CASP.CCPS2017-19.3
- Lower Miocene reef facies and reservoirs in the Zhujiangkou Basin, South China Sea CASP.CB.64
- Ordovician carbonate reservoirs of the Qianmiqiao field in the Bohai Basin CASP.CB.63
- Recognition and hydrocarbon implications of the lower Tertiary Tufa and travertine in the Pingyi Basin, East China CASP.CB.62