Abstract: With the quickening step of China’s shale gas exploration and development, the establishment of evaluation criteria of shale gas and the evaluation method of specific geological constituencies has become the prerequisite
and foundation of exploration and development. The optimization of favorable area can provide an important basis for further decision-making of the exploration and further study. According to a large number of foreign shale gas exploration and development cases, the main geological characteristics of shale gas are summarized. Based on the shale gas development practice of foreign countries, geological and geochemical parameters and the specific geo-
logical conditions of domestic basins, six evaluating parameters for selecting favorable shale gas area are optimized according to their generating capacities, storage capacities and easy exploitations. At the same time, the evaluating
index is defined, and the grading standards are established. Meanwhile, a simulation of the application of the evalu-
ation method in selecting the favorable geological zones has been carried out in a certain region of a basin. Finally,
the common quantitative calculation methods of shale gas potential are summarized systematically. Considering the
complex geological backgrounds of China and the status that shale gas is less explored and developed, the analogy
method and volume method are recommended to be used comprehensively to calculate the resources.

Key words: shale gas, geological regional selection, shale gas resources volume, shale gas evaluating index, shale gas evaluating criteria