ZIYANG, China, May 13, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation ("Sinopec", HKG: 0386) has announced a major shale gas exploration breakthrough of its "Project Deep Earth - Sichuan and Chongqing Natural Gas Base". The Ziyang Dongfeng shale gas field, operated by Sinopec, has secured official approval for proven geological reserves of 235.687 billion cubic meters from the Ministry of Natural Resources of China. This marks the birth of China's first ultra-deep, 100-billion-cubic-meter-level shale gas field, pushing exploration and development beyond 4,500 meters.

The Ziyang Dongfeng in the Sichuan Basin is a large, integrated shale gas field discovered in the Cambrian Qiongzhusi Formation, the earth's oldest commercial shale layer, formed 540 million years ago. Buried 4,500–5,200 meters deep, it posed globally recognized exploration challenges such as unclear reservoir characteristics, complex accumulation mechanisms, thick difficult-to-drill formations, and extreme heat and pressure.

The Sinopec team moved beyond conventional exploration models. By integrating AI into geophysical imaging, they effectively "CT‑scanned" subsurface formations, enabling clear reservoir identification and gas detection. Combined with breakthroughs in ultra‑deep drilling and fracturing, these efforts have yielded a fully proprietary technology system for Cambrian ultra‑deep shale gas exploration.

"After over a decade of persistent effort, we have taken Cambrian shale gas from zero to a hundred-billion-cubic-meter-scale reserve base. This validates the formation's vast potential and gives us a replicable technical pathway to expand China's shale gas development frontier," said Liu Wei, director of Sinopec Southwest Petroleum Bureau and representative of Sinopec Southwest Oil & Gas Company. "Our next step is to drive high-quality exploration and production, accelerate capacity growth at Ziyang Dongfeng, and contribute to secure national energy security."

Sinopec continues to drive the high-quality development of China's shale gas industry. In 2012, Sinopec discovered the Fuling shale gas field, launching China's commercial shale gas development and making China the third country (after the U.S. and Canada) to achieve commercial-scale shale gas production. By 2017, Sinopec had built Fuling into China's first 10-billion-cubic-meter-capacity shale gas field.

Pushing into deeper formations, Sinopec proved the Weirong shale gas field (2018), the Qijiang shale gas field (2022), and, in 2025, the Yongchuan and Hongxing fields, each with reserves exceeding 100 billion cubic meters.

For more information about Sinopec's efforts and achieved milestones on shale gas exploration, please visit http://www.sinopec.com/listco/en/.