Sinopec: Have Used Fracking To Tap Oil, Gas At Shengli Oil Field

China Petrochemical Corp. said it has successfully applied multistage fracturing technology to tap shale oil and gas reserves at the Shengli oil field in northern China.

The achievement takes the company closer to a goal of exploiting new technologies similar to those used in North America to unlock vast stores of hydrocarbons that until just over a decade ago were mostly inaccessible. It comes about a month after Sinopec, as the group is known, struck a deal with Devon Energy Corp. (>> Devon Energy Corporation) for a one-third stake in five U.S. shale oil and gas fields in a deal worth $2.5 billion.

Sinopec, like other Chinese majors, has been buying into unconventional energy plays in part to gain access to know-how associated with fracturing, commonly referred to as fracking, as well as related technologies, such as horizontal drilling. Sinopec developed the technology it is using at Shengli itself, it said on its website Monday.

Sinopec Group, the parent of China's top refiner, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP), has said that around 45% of the 626 million metric tons of proven oil and gas reserves at Shengli is classified as unconventional.

Sinopec is also using fracking technology to develop shale oil reserves in the Nanxiang basin in Henan province, which has estimated potential reserves of shale oil totaling 7.8 billion barrels, the company said earlier this month.