New York Times: China Faces Steep Climb to Exploit Its Shale Riches

Trapped in black rock beneath China’s mountains and deserts lies a resource that could be a way of supplying some of the country’s insatiable demand for energy, while reducing the toxic air pollution that cloaks many of its cities.

Like the United States, China is thought to have vast quantities of natural gas locked in shale rock. If it can be produced, this gas would be a much cleaner source of energy than the coal the country relies on for 70 percent of its energy.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, or E.I.A., China has the world’s largest technically recoverable reserves of shale gas — almost as much as Canada and the United States combined. MORE

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