China's first national-level shale oil demonstration zone in a continental faulted lacustrine basin - the Shengli Jiyang Shale oil demonstration zone in East China's Shandong Province - has been officially completed. This provides a replicable and scalable technical pathway for the large-scale and efficient development of similar shale oil resources in China, China Media Group reported on Friday.

Shale oil is an important unconventional oil and gas replacement resource. Compared with conventional oil and gas resources, shale oil in continental faulted lacustrine basins has extremely complex geological conditions, characterized by deep burial, low thermal maturity, fragmented structures, small pores, and heavy oil. It was once judged by foreign technologies to have no commercial exploitation value and has long been a world-class exploration and development challenge.

The demonstration zone, covering a total area of 7,300 square kilometers, achieved a major exploration breakthrough in 2021, filling the gap in China's national-level demonstration construction for shale oil in continental faulted lacustrine basins.

In recent years, Shengli Oilfield has continuously advanced shale oil reserve growth and production capacity building, with daily oil production rising from an initial 100 tons to over 2,400 tons, according to the report.

The Jiyang shale oil resources have been found to total 10.52 billion tons, said the report.