Practice of Unconventional Gas Development and Engineering Management Innovation in China

Abstract

This article analyses the recent progressive increase in resourcequantity and production quantity of unconventional natural gas in China, describes its natural properties and the concepts, strategies and approaches of its development, summarizes the special techniques, management concepts and development modes formed in the process of its development, and puts forward proposals to accelerate the development of unconventional natural gas of China. The technically recoverable reserve of unconventional natural gas is 1.7 times that of conventional natural gas and its output in 2012 accounted for 41.8% of the total output in China. Chinese tight gas development has gained success, coal-bed methane development and shale gas production pilots have made important progresses. As the key feature of unconventional natural gas is "low grade", for the effective scale development, developers must build up the engineering concept of low-grade resources development, adhere to the low cost strategy, take the development route of "a step backward and then a step forward", apply such ideas and methods of engineering management as low cost dualistic integrative innovation, full control network management, economic limit theory, integrated operation and "four orientations" engineering management, establish a "two lows" engineering management system, and take reference of the successful development mode of the tight gas in Sulige and the coal-bed methane in the Qinshui basin. In order to achieve the objective of rapid development of nonconventional natural gas in China and to accelerate the development pace, the government should continue to increase support, to speed up the reform of natural gas price adjustment, to set up national comprehensive development and utilization demonstration areas, to input in sustainable technological research and to promote engineering management innovation. 

Keywords

natural gas / unconventional / tight gas / coal-bed methane / shale gas / engineering management / innovation / proposals

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2014 Zhejiang University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg