China's New Shale Gas Reserves Are World's Largest

Assured that the potentially recoverable shale gas resources of 25.1tn cubic metres are enough to meet China's gas needs for the next two centuries, Ministry of Land and Resources on Thursday announced investment plans to exploit its reserves of shale gas.

An earlier estimate showed that China has 31tn cubic metres, a little higher than what has been found by the country. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said in April 2011, China may hold 1,275 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas. Despite slightly lower than earlier figures, reserves of shale gas found in China are still believed to be the largest in the world. "China is rich in shale gas resources, which are suitable for scaled development," said Yu Haifeng, the Resource Ministry's Deputy Director.

The Ministry of Land and Resources added that China's complicated geology and lack of technological expertise will make extraction difficult. In spite of technical obstacles, nation's land ministry is reaffirmed that shale gas would be central to the country's energy policy. According to a statement of the Ministry of Land and Resource, development of shale gas resources by 2015 and speeding up its extraction by 2020 are the present aims of China.

China Petroleum Corporation has launched a joint venture with Chevron, having found shale gas at 20 sites. Meanwhile, Royal Dutch Shell has been developing shale projects in China for the past two years. Outpacing the US, China has become world's biggest consumer of energy and with the domestic shale gas discoveries country can significantly reduce its imports of oil and gas.