# Gudong Oil Field
**Gudong Oil Field** (孤东油田) is a heavy-oil field in the northeastern Zhanhua Depression of the Jiyang Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China, and one of the component fields of the Shengli Oilfield ([胜利油田](https://www.edgepedia.org/shengli-field)), China's second largest oilfield.[1](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/21/3658) It lies in the northern [Yellow River](https://www.edgepedia.org/yellow-river) delta region of Shandong Province, north of the current Yellow River channel, and is operated under Sinopec's Shengli Oilfield Company.[2](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/2/1540) The field is an unconsolidated sandstone reservoir containing heavy oil, first put into production in 1986, and it has become a site for chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in China.[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Location | Northeastern Zhanhua Depression, Jiyang Depression, Bohai Bay Basin; northern Yellow River delta, Shandong Province[4](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7581233/) • [2](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/2/1540) |
| Reserves | Oil-bearing area of 16.39 km² with proven oil reserves of 4619 × 104 t[4](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7581233/) |
| Reservoir type | Unconsolidated sandstone with heavy oil; relatively low reservoir temperature and water salinity[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7) |
| Main producing stratum | Neogene Guantao Formation, overlying Shahejie, Dongying, and Minghuazhen formations[5](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920410519304929) |
| Production start | 1986[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7) |
| EOR record | First ASP flood pilot in China at Gudong in 1992; polymer and surfactant-polymer floods in units 7, 8, 34, and QQX from 1994 to 2012[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7) |
| Land subsidence | InSAR-measured subsidence of about 15 to 20 mm/yr in two centers, attributed to oil extraction[2](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/2/1540) |
## Geological setting
The Gudong Oilfield sits in the northeastern part of the Zhanhua Depression, a Tertiary rifted basin within the Bohai Bay Basin, and is surrounded by three sags: the Gunan Sag to the south, the Wuhaozhuang Sag to the northwest, and the Huanghekou Sag to the northeast.[4](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7581233/) It is a large-scale drape anticline reservoir developed on a Mesozoic buried hill, cut by eight faults in northeast, northwest, and nearly east-west orientations that divide the field into eight development blocks.[5](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920410519304929) Geochemical studies indicate that hydrocarbons in the field were derived from [source rocks](https://www.edgepedia.org/source-rock) in the Gunan and Huanghekou sags, principally the third and first members of the Paleogene Shahejie Formation, giving the field multiple oil sources and a variety of reservoir types.[4](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7581233/)
The oil-bearing strata comprise the Shahejie, Dongying, Guantao, and Minghuazhen formations, with the Guantao Formation as the main oil-bearing horizon.[5](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920410519304929) The upper Guantao Formation records a sedimentary evolution from braided fluvial deposits in the lower part to meandering fluvial deposits in the upper part, so the reservoir combines braid-bar and braid-channel sands below with point-bar, abandoned-channel, crevasse-splay, and floodplain sands above.[6](https://castjournals.cast.org.cn/joweb/kxjsygc/EN/1156907874686423981) This fluvial architecture strongly controls sandbody connectivity and the distribution of remaining oil.[6](https://castjournals.cast.org.cn/joweb/kxjsygc/EN/1156907874686423981)
## Development and enhanced oil recovery
**Production history.** The field came on stream in 1986, later than the neighboring Gudao field, which began producing in 1975.[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7) Like Gudong's heavy-oil neighbor, it entered a high-water-cut phase after years of water injection; by the period reviewed by Gao, Shi, and Zhao, waterflooding limitations had emerged as injected water channeled along high-permeability layers.[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7) The field's low reservoir temperature and water salinity below 10,000 mg/L made it well suited to polymer flooding, which requires polymer solutions to retain viscosity under reservoir conditions.[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7)
**Chemical flooding pilots.** In 1992 the first alkali-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flood pilot at Gudong raised final recovery from a secondary recovery of 54% to 67.4%, but severe scale formation led to the abandonment of ASP flooding at the field; surfactant-polymer (SP) flooding proved more suitable after laboratory tests and field trials.[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7) Field results across Gudong units were substantial:
- At the No. 8 unit, polymer flood implemented in 1998 lifted oil production from 400 to 900 ton/day by 2000 while water cut fell from 92% to 79%.[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7)
- At the No. 7 unit, polymer flooding from 1994 to 1997 raised daily oil output from 250 to 575 ton and achieved tertiary recovery of 5.75%, below expectation because polymer channeled through high-permeability streaks; some wells were shut in and gel treatments applied to modify conformance.[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7)
- At the QQX unit, SP flood ran from 2004 to 2008; by 2006, 14 of 16 production wells showed increased oil rates, with daily oil rising from 35 to 195.7 ton and water cut declining to 86%.[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7)
- At the No. 34 unit, SP flood begun in late 2006 raised oil rate from 390 to 1,169 ton/day and lowered water cut from 95.7% to 87.2%; by the end of 2012 cumulative tertiary production stood at 1,163 thousand tons, a tertiary recovery of 5.5% of original oil in place.[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7)
A comparison of two Gudong blocks with similar reservoir parameters showed how strongly oil saturation governs response: tertiary recovery was 8.6% in the block with higher oil saturation against 4.4% in the other.[3](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7) A xanthan gum flooding pilot at Gudong was also studied for viscosity behavior, comparing the biopolymer against partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide for EOR under the field's conditions.[7](https://syzcgysj.xml-journal.net/en/article/doi/10.3969/j.issn.1000-7393.1998.05.015)
**Mature-field management.** After more than 20 years of intensive water injection and production, the field entered a medium-to-high water-cut period with comprehensive water cut exceeding 95% and a recovery degree of 42% in the studied development unit, prompting profile-control and pressure-field optimization work to redirect injected water into unswept medium- and low-permeability layers.[8](https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/13/10/3131) The producing area is drilled densely, about 100 wells per square kilometer, which makes Gudong a type locality for characterizing thin meander-belt sandstones and their control on remaining oil.[9](https://ouci.dntb.gov.ua/en/works/9J0XGqV4/) Block 6 alone in the northeastern field holds approximately 560 wells.[5](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920410519304929)
## Environment and subsidence
Gudong lies in the northern Yellow River delta, a low-lying coastal setting where land subsidence compounds flooding risk from sea-level rise and storm surge.[1](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/21/3658) Processing of Envisat ASAR images from 2007 to 2010 with InSAR time-series methods detected coherent subsidence bowls over the Gudao and Gudong oilfields; in Gudong the deformation lacks a regular bowl shape and resolves into two centers with mean rates of about 15 mm/yr in the north and about 20 mm/yr in the south, with a maximum rate of 20 mm/yr.[2](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/2/1540) The study attributed the subsidence to oil extraction, which reduces reservoir pressure, raises effective stress, and compacts the reservoir; the subsiding areas are prone to flooding and difficult to drain.[2](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/2/1540) Consistent sediment properties in shallow delta samples ruled out shallow materials as the cause of the observed displacement differences.[2](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/2/1540)
The field also overlaps environmentally sensitive ground: Sinopec's environmental disclosures list Gudong among the Shengli fields whose areas intersect the Shandong Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, after a 2001 [State Council](https://www.edgepedia.org/state-council) adjustment reclassified parts of the reserve's core and buffer zones as experimental zones where petroleum exploration and development are permitted.[10](https://www.mee.gov.cn/ywdt/gs/wqgs_1/201812/W020181214706725033673.pdf)
## Current role within Shengli
Gudong, together with Shengtuo, Gudao, Kenxi, and Chengdao, contributes most of the oil production of the Shengli Oil Fields, Sinopec's largest domestic asset.[11](https://www.woodmac.com/reports/upstream-oil-and-gas-shengli-oil-fields-14323605) The Gudong production plant was reported in a Sinopec environmental verification filing as producing 2.6 million tons of crude oil and 37.2 million cubic meters of natural gas per year.[12](https://sthjj.beijing.gov.cn/bjhrb/index/xxgk69/zfxxgk43/fdzdgknr2/325924085/1713869/index.html) Facing high water cut of 97%, more than 20,000 abandoned wells across eastern Shengli, and heavy energy costs, the field hosts the Gudong Oilfield Dongyi Central Processing Station oilfield-geothermal co-development demonstration project, which exploits abundant geothermal resources at the mature field.[13](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44438-026-00039-x)
## References
1. [Liu, P. et al. (2015). Land Subsidence over Oilfields in the Yellow River Delta. Remote Sensing 7(2):1540–1564, MDPI.](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/7/2/1540)
2. [Coastal Dam Inundation Assessment for the Yellow River Delta, Remote Sensing (MDPI, 2020).](https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/12/21/3658)
3. [Gao, C., Shi, J. & Zhao, F. (2014). Successful polymer flooding and surfactant-polymer flooding projects at Shengli Oilfield from 1992 to 2012. J Petrol Explor Prod Technol 4, 1–8.](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13202-013-0069-7)
4. [Geochemically Distinct Oil Families in the Gudong Oilfield, Zhanhua Depression, Bohai Bay Basin, China (PMC).](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7581233/)
5. [Sedimentary characteristics and evolution of the fluvial system of the Neogene Guantao Formation, Zhanhua Sag (ScienceDirect).](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920410519304929)
6. [Qiao, Y.-p. et al. (2025). Sedimentary Evolution of Paleofluvial Sandbodies of Upper Guantao Formation in Gudong Oilfield, Zhanhua Sag. Science Technology and Engineering 25(3):1008–1017.](https://castjournals.cast.org.cn/joweb/kxjsygc/EN/1156907874686423981)
7. [Viscosity Change and Influencing Factors of Xanthan Gum Flooding Pilot Test in Gudong Oilfield (1998).](https://syzcgysj.xml-journal.net/en/article/doi/10.3969/j.issn.1000-7393.1998.05.015)
8. [Research on Profile Control Potential Evaluation and Optimization Design Technology in Block M of Gudong Oilfield, Processes (MDPI, 2025).](https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/13/10/3131)
9. [Architectural analysis of subsurface meander-belt sandstones: a densely drilled oil field, Zhanhua sag, AAPG Bulletin (2020).](https://ouci.dntb.gov.ua/en/works/9J0XGqV4/)
10. [Shengli Oilfield and the Shandong Yellow River Delta National Nature Reserve, Ministry of Ecology and Environment (in Chinese).](https://www.mee.gov.cn/ywdt/gs/wqgs_1/201812/W020181214706725033673.pdf)
11. [Shengli Oil Fields Report, Wood Mackenzie.](https://www.woodmac.com/reports/upstream-oil-and-gas-shengli-oil-fields-14323605)
12. [Sinopec listing environmental verification public notice, Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau (in Chinese).](https://sthjj.beijing.gov.cn/bjhrb/index/xxgk69/zfxxgk43/fdzdgknr2/325924085/1713869/index.html)
13. [Theory, technologies, and practice of oilfield-geothermal co-development in the Bohai Bay Basin, Carbon Neutral Systems (Springer, 2026).](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s44438-026-00039-x)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Technology and the built world › Energy technology › Oil industry › Drilling, refining, and products › Oil fields of Asia and Oceania › Oil fields of China*
*Initially written Oct 15, 2026 · Edited: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license