The birth of another large shale gas field in China - Hongxing Gas Field

On August 21, 2025, the proven reserves of 1650.25 billion cubic meters of shale gas in the Hongxing shale gas field of Sinopec Jianghan Oilfield were successfully approved by the Ministry of Natural Resources, marking the official birth of another large-scale shale gas field in China. This further proves that the Hongxing area has good resource potential and has successfully opened up a new strategic field for shale gas storage, which has a positive significance for ensuring national energy security. A new breakthrough in theoretical engineering unlocks the underground 'energy code'. The Hongxing shale gas field is located in the provinces and cities of Hubei and Chongqing. The main exploration and development layers are the Permian system, with burial depths ranging from 3300 to 5500 meters. The structural deformation is complex, making exploration and development difficult. Sinopec Jianghan Oilfield continues to carry out key technological breakthroughs in thin-layer shale gas under complex conditions, innovate shale gas enrichment theory, strengthen geological engineering integration, and optimize the selection of "geological engineering double sweet spots" shale gas enrichment areas, successfully opening up a new exploration situation for shale gas in China's first billion cubic meters of new layer shale gas outside the Silurian system. At the same time, the research and development team has innovatively developed a series of technologies for safe completion of shale gas horizontal wells and a complex fracturing process with high conductivity expansion. The test production of a single well has increased from 89000 cubic meters per day to 323500 cubic meters per day.

The person in charge of Jianghan Oilfield stated that in the next step, Sinopec will strengthen the integrated evaluation and deployment of exploration and development, deepen key technological breakthroughs in basic geology, development technology, engineering processes, etc., continue to expand the Wujiaping Formation shale gas storage new zone, and actively cultivate new positions for the scale construction and production of Permian shale gas.

Sinopec continues to promote the high-quality development of China's shale gas industry. China has the resource characteristics of "rich in coal, poor in oil, and low in gas", and has long been a major importer of oil and gas. The exploration and development of shale gas has important strategic significance for China's energy landscape. Sinopec actively took on the responsibility of finding gas for the country and discovered the Fuling shale gas field at the end of 2012, marking the beginning of China's commercial development of shale gas and making China the third country after the United States and Canada to achieve commercial development of shale gas. In 2017, China's first shale gas field with a production capacity of billions of cubic meters, the Fuling shale gas field, was built; In 2020, the first deep shale gas field in China with proven reserves exceeding 100 billion cubic meters, the Weirong Shale Gas Field Phase I project, was completed; In 2024, multiple deep shale gas exploration wells in the Sichuan Basin, such as Jinye 3 and Ziyang 2, will open up new space for increasing reserves and production. At present, Sinopec has built four billion cubic meter deep shale gas fields including Fuling, Weirong, Qijiang, Yongchuan, and Hongxing, injecting clean energy into high-quality development.