Sinopec Strikes Shale Oil in Central China Well

China's Sinopec found oil in shale rocks in the central Henan basin, the site of pioneering explorations for the unconventional fuel, an industry paper reported. 

Sinopec tested 12-15 cubic metres of oil a day from Qinye HF1 well in Qinyang basin, after multiple portions of hydraulic fracturing, China Petrochemical News, an in-house paper of Sinopec, said on Thursday. 

The company called it a "big breakthrough" in a continental basin, an area Chinese firms believe is more geologically  challenging compared to a marine basin. 

China has since late 2009 embarked on a campaign to hunt for the unconventional resource, inspired by the shale revolutions in the United States, where massive amounts of gas and oil were proven and produced out of the shale rocks. 

China is now widely believed to hold more shale reserve than the United States, although its has very little commercial production. 

Industry experts have said China's largest shale discovery should be tapped in southwestern Sichuan basin, largely a marine basin similar to those in the United States, whereas most of China's other basins are either continental or lacustrine. 

The Sinopec paper said shale layers were mostly trapped in the deep parts of the Qinyang basin and covered an area of 400 square kilometres.