For large scale exploitation, it needs to arrange drilling wells densely and conduct a large amount of fracturing in the shale gas area, which means that a large area of land resources will be occupied. It will not only cause serious effect on the life of the local people, but also increase the exploitation cost substantially. Under such conditions, it is unknown whether the shale gas exploitation is still economical and feasible. Sichuan Basin, the most important shale gas area in China, is faced with two problems of water shortage and high population density.
The reason for the great success of the shale gas exploitation in the US is its advanced pipeline infrastructure. The length of the 210 main gas pipelines exceeds 480,000 km in the US. These pipelines can cover all main markets and shale gas areas and the production and sales is even more convenient in some production area in the northeast area of the US. In contrast, the situation in China is not so satisfactory. The length of gas pipeline in China in 2010 was only 36,000 km and it is expected to reach 10,000 km by the end of 2015. Such a status quo will affect directly the shale gas exploitation.
A series of restrictions remind us that there is a large difficult in the shale gas exploitation and the first place of the Chinese recoverable shale gas reserves in the world assessed by the US is only a number guess. There are huge gaps between China and the US both in technical and geological conditions. Meanwhile, a series of factors like high population density and poor pipeline infrastructure also restrict the shale gas exploitation. It may be thought that for the reserves and yield of shale gas, the surface factors dominate the underground factors and it should be discreet to initiate Shale Gas Revolution in China.
Weekly Photos of China: Nov 5-11
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