Silurian hydrocarbon exploration breakthrough and its implications in the Shajingzi structural belt of Tarim Basin, NW China

Abstract

The Silurian hydrocarbon exploration in the northwest Tarim Basin had long been fruitless, till Well XSD1 drilled in 2018 in the Shajingzi structural belt, northwest Tarim Basin tapped industrial gas flow from the Silurian for the first time. The reservoir-forming model and resource extent need to be made clear urgently. Based on the comprehensive research of drilling, formation testing, geochemical data, and sedimentary and accumulation history, in combination with field surveys, experiments, structure interpretation and reconstruction of structure evolution, it is found that: (1) The northwest Tarim Basin had widespread tidal deltaic deposits in the Silurian period, which contain good reservoir-cap combinations; (2) the Shajingzi fault and associated faults connected the Cambrian—Ordovician source rocks in the Awati sag, and controlled the formation of Silurian structural traps, hence, the traps turned up along the structural belt in an orderly pattern and came together into contiguous tracts; (3) the Silurian petroleum in Shajingzi structural belt was dominated by gas, and the major accumulation period was the Himalayan period when the traps fixed in shape; (4) the Silurian gas resources in the Shajingzi belt were estimated at around 2.018×1011 m3 and Silurian gas resources of the northwest Tarim Basin were estimated at 2.03×1012 m3 implying huge exploration potential, so this area will become a major area for reserve and production increase from clastic strata in the basin; (5) with the Shajingzi fault of large scale and long active time connecting deep source rock layers, multiple formations in Lower Paleozoic of Shajingzi structural belt may have breakthroughs in hydrocarbon exploration.