Geological characteristics and favorable areas prediction of shale gas in Wufeng-Longmaxi Formation in Zheng’an area of Northern Guizhou

In order to determine the shale gas geological characteristics of Wufeng Formation in upper Ordovician and Longmaxi Formation in Lower Silurian of Zheng'an area in Northern Guizhou, the authors used geology survey,gravity,magnetic,two dimensional seismic,geological well and test analysis methods to carry out 1:50000 shale gas basic geology survey. The distribution, depositional environment, organic geochemical, mineral composition, reservoir properties and hydrocarbon content and other characteristics of Wufeng-Longmaxi Formation rich organic shale were obtained. The results show that the rich organic shale belongs to deep water continental shelf facies, mainly distributed in Anchang, Banzhu and Nigao syncline, with a thickness of 14.5-55 m and burial depth of 0-3 200 m. The TOC content is between 1.0% and 4.0%, and the vitrinite reflectance (R_o) is between 1.82% and 2.23%, with the organic matter type mainly I kerogen. The rocks are mainly composed of quartz, feldspar and clay minerals. The brittle mineral content is high, generally more than 50%. The porosity is generally between 2.03% and 3.89%,and the permeability is generally between 0.35×10^-5 μm² and 1.86×10^-5 μm², showing the characteristics of low porosity and low permeability. The highest gas content is 2.88m³/t, showing good gas content characteristics. Three favorable target areas for the shale gas in Zheng’an area were identified through comprehensive analysis and evaluation optimization, that is Anchang,Banzhu and Nigao block respectively, which provides exploration direction for shale gas exploration and development in the study area.