On November 9, 2025, China National Petroleum Corporation's Changqing Oilfield announced that its shale oil cumulative production had exceeded 20 million tons, marking the official entry of China's continental shale oil into a new phase of large-scale and cost-effective development. This milestone achievement is of great significance: from achieving the first commercial extraction in 2013 to surpassing 10 million tons in cumulative production by 2022, Changqing Oilfield spent a full 12 years on technological exploration and model innovation. The leap from 10 million to 20 million tons took only three years, with a significantly accelerated growth rate. Behind this accomplishment lies Changqing Oilfield's continuous efforts in the Ordos Basin—the world's first large-scale continental shale oil development base—through the independent research and development of 12 core technologies, such as soluble metal ball seats and CO2 flooding, which increased single-well daily output from an initial 1.5 tons to 18 tons. Meanwhile, innovative approaches like "horizontal well cluster layout" and intelligent management models, along with the deployment of a shale oil IoT cloud platform, reduced labor requirements for million-ton-level production by 80%, significantly enhancing development efficiency and economic benefits. Currently, Changqing Oilfield's shale oil daily production has exceeded 10,000 tons, accounting for more than half of China's total shale oil output. It is projected to reach an annual production of 3.5 million tons by 2025 and aims to increase annual output to 4.5 million tons by 2030. This not only strengthens China's energy self-sufficiency but also provides a replicable and scalable "Chinese solution" for global continental shale oil development. Additionally, through green technologies such as CO2 huff and puff energy replenishment, it achieves coordinated development between oil and gas extraction and low-carbon transformation.

Author of this news: Ding Shuhan

Date: November 10th, 2025