In at least six areas around the Shengli Oilfield in east China,
scientists have found large oil deposits, the Ministry of Science
and Technology announced Monday.
They said Dongxin, one of the six, contains more than 252
million tons of oil while the other five areas may have between
10-30 million tons.
"The new breakthroughs will help ease the country's oil shortage
considerably and especially sustain the better developed eastern
areas," said Yan Jisheng, a ministry official in charge of natural
resources and environmental development.
Scientists may find similar geological areas and even more oil
in other parts of the country, said Yan.
The new discoveries were the results of recent advances in
underground surveys developed by Chinese scientists. The process
involves studying the qualities of sedimentary rocks to discover
oil deposits.
Scientists combined a number of disciplines, including physics,
chemistry, geology and computer science, to explore the sites where
they believed oil deposits might be located.
The new theories have gained worldwide attention among
geologists.
During a symposium last October in Beijing, experts called the
new theories important to the development of oil resources around
the globe, said ministry sources.
With its rapid economic development of the past two decades,
China has been facing an oil shortage.
Since the late 1990s, output from the Daqing and Shengli
oilfields -- the backbones of oil production in east China -- has
begun to fall after four decades of exploitation.
Over the past eight years, scientists have applied their new
theories to test for oil deposits in the Shengli Oilfield and
adjacent areas. The six deposits located include up to 280 million
tons of oil.
Scientists have identified other areas they intend to
explore.
They?believe that these newfound areas will help reverse
the output decrease at Shengli. By last year, such areas around
Shengli had produced over 33 million tons of crude oil.
The Shengli Oilfield is expected to keep oil production steady
at 30 million tons through 2006.
The Songliao, Bohai Bay, Nanxiang, Jianghan and Subei bases in
east China may contain a total of 10 billion tons of
sedimentary-based oil deposits, experts said.
"These new discoveries have eased our anxiety over oil
shortages... and we know that we have more oil deposits to support
the country's long-term economic development," said Yan.
Meanwhile, scientists are working to apply new oil extraction
technologies in old oil fields, such as Daqing and Shengli, to
upgrade the efficiency of oil production, according to Yan.
(China Daily April 6, 2004)