- Sinopec's Yonghong-1 in Bazhong tested high-yield natural gas from Jurassic tight sandstone.
- Target reservoir lies >4,500 m deep with thin, low-quality, heterogeneous sandstone and high prediction difficulty.
- Team deployed horizontal wells with staged fracturing and integrated geo-engineering solutions to address high breakdown pressures and reservoir sensitivity.
- Result confirms new reserve-add potential in the Sichuan Basin's Jurassic new formation.
Overview
Sinopec's Exploration Branch drilled Yonghong‑1 in Bazhong, Sichuan, which tested high‑yield gas from a Jurassic new‑formation tight sandstone, indicating an additional reserve target in the Sichuan Basin.
Reservoir characteristics and challenges
The target sits at >4,500 m depth and is an ultra‑deep tight‑sandstone gas reservoir with thin beds, poor physical properties, strong heterogeneity and high prediction difficulty, plus high fracturing breakdown pressures and pronounced reservoir sensitivity.
Technical response and results
Teams intensified research to clarify controls on reservoir development and hydrocarbon enrichment, advanced sand‑body characterization and reservoir‑prediction techniques, and deployed horizontal wells with staged fracturing; an integrated geology‑engineering approach produced effective reservoir transformation and validated the play's exploration potential.
