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Geological controls of shale gas accumulation and enrichment mechanism in Lower Cambrian Niutitang Formation of western Hubei, Middle Yangtze, China

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Abstract

The lower Cambrian Niutitang Formation is of crucial importance for shale gas target reservoirs in western Hubei, China; however, little work has been done in this field, and its shale gas accumulation and enrichment mechanism are still unclear. Based on survey wells, outcrop data, and large numbers of tests, the geological conditions of shale gas accumulation were studied; moreover, the factors that influence the gas content were thoroughly discussed. The results show that the Niutitang Formation (Є1n) can be divided into three sections: the first section (Є1n1), the second section (Є1n2), and the third section (Є1n3). The Є1n2 is the main shale gas reservoir. The deep shelf facies is the main sedimentary facies and can be divided into three main lithofacies: argillaceous siltstone, carbonaceous shale and carbonaceous siliceous rock. The total organic carbon (TOC) content shows gentle growth trends until bottom of the Є1n2 and then decreases rapidly within the Є1n1, and the TOC content mainly ranges from 2% to 4% horizontally. The calcite and dolomite dissolution pores, clay intergranular pores and organic pores are the main pore types and the micropore types are clearly related to the mineral compositions and the TOC content. Vertically, the gas content is mainly affected by the TOC content. Horizontally, wells with high gas contents are distributed only southeast of the Huangling anticline, and the combination of structural styles, fault and fracture development, and the distribution of the regional unconformity boundary between the upper Sinian Dengying Formation (Z2d) and the Є1n2 are the three most important factors affecting the gas content. The favorable areas must meet the following conditions: a deep shelf environment, the presence of the Є1n1, wide and gentle folds, far from large normal faults that are more than 5 km, moderate thermal evolution, and greater than 500 m burial depth; this includes the block with the YD2-ZD2 wells, and the block with the Y1 and YD4 wells, which are distributed in the southern portion of the Huangling anticline and northern portion of the Xiannvshan fault.

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Acknowledgements

This work is supported by the Scientific Research project of Department of Natural Resources of Hubei Province (No. ZRZY2020KJ10) and Hubei Geological Bureau (No. KJ2019-3); the Shale Gas Geological Survey Projects of Department of Natural Resources of Hubei Province (Nos. HBCZ-17060223-170397 and DTCG-190409); We also thank the funds provided by Youth Foundation of the Northeast Petroleum University (No. 2019QNL-21); Opening Fund of the Coal Reservoir Laboratory of National Engineering Research Center of CBM Development & Utilization, China University of Geosciences (Beijing) (No. 2019MCQ02001). We would like to thank laboratory staff who helped with the experiments. We would like to also thank Sinopec Jianghan Oilfield Research Institute of Exploration and Development and Wuhan Center of China Geological Survey to provide the drilling well data. Careful reviews and constructive suggestions of the manuscript by anonymous reviewers are also greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Hubei Geological Survey, Wuhan, Hubei, 430034, China

    Lulu Xu, Zaoxue Liu, Yaru Wen, Xianghui Zhou, Yanlin Zhang, Xiongwei Li, Deng Wang & Fan Luo

  2. Key Laboratory of Continental shale Accumulation and Development of Ministry of Education, Northeast Petroleum University, Daqing, 163318, China

    Saipeng Huang

  3. Coal Reservoir Laboratory of National Engineering Research Center of CBM Development & Utilization, School of Energy Resources, China University of Geosciences, Beijing, 100083, China

    Saipeng Huang

  4. The Seventh Geological Brigade of Hubei Geological Bureau, Yichang, 443000, China

    Cheng Chen

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  1. Lulu Xu
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  3. Zaoxue Liu
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Correspondence to Saipeng Huang.

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Xu, L., Huang, S., Liu, Z. et al. Geological controls of shale gas accumulation and enrichment mechanism in Lower Cambrian Niutitang Formation of western Hubei, Middle Yangtze, China. Front. Earth Sci. 15, 310–331 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-021-0892-y

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