Abstract: This paper analyzed the essential concepts of the effective geological factors of economic value for onshore natural gas regions in China and the interrelated factors were researched systematically. The main issues that have been discussed are as follows: the cost of development and investment more related to the depth of reservoir and the sand parameters of overlying formation of natural gas region; production cost is mostly affected by natural geographical elements and corresponding material parameters of the deposit; the reservoir abundance, efficiency thickness, porosity of reservoir, permeability and the type of the gas reserve are the main affecting factors of production. Based on these researches, the factor–weighted computing formula for investment costs, price factors and the discrimination for economic value of onshore natural gas fields were studied. Seven examples of typical onshore natural gas fields in western, middle and eastern China were analyzed with criteria for the geological reserves that have been developed and several suggestions for the sustainable development of Chinese natural gas industry were presented.

Key words: natural gas resources, onshore natural gas fields, geological factor, economic value, weighted evaluation, China