Sinopec starts production from deep West Sichuan gas field

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec) started producing from West Sichuan gas field as part of Project Deep Earth-Sichuan and Chongqing natural gas base in Sichuan, China, teh company said in a release Mar. 15.

This is Sinopec’s third 100-billion cu m (bcm) submarine natural gas field in Sichuan basin, and the field is expected to produce 2 bcm of natural gas and 130,000 tons of sulfur annually.

The field was drilled with a new anti-collapse drilling fluid system and technologies for controlling borehole trajectories in ultra-deep wells over 8,000 m with segmentation technology for ultra-long horizontal wells. 

Integrated gas extraction and desulfurization provides closed-loop desulfurization with natural gas sulfur recovery rates of over 99.9%. The field produces gas that meets national standards while ensuring zero wastewater discharge.

Sinopec’s developed gas reserves in Sichuan basin include Puguang and Yuanba sour gas fields with over 100 bcm each, and Fuling and Weirong shale gas fields, the latter holding more than 100 bcm in reserves. The company has nearly 3 trillion cu m of gas reserves in the basin, with an annual output of 26 bcm and total production exceeding 200 bcm.