China Gives More Time to Shale Gas Explorers

China has decided to give more time to new shale gas explorers to show results.

The Ministry of Land and Resources has agreed to extend exploration time of shale gas blocks to five years from three years, Xinhua Finance Agency quoted Lei Huaiyu, chief geologist, China Huadian Clean Energy Company as saying.

Speaking at a recent industry meeting, Lei said exploration of blank shale gas blocks needs longer exploration period. "We're carrying out assessment and could make precise judgment on prospects and value of our shale gas blocks in end of 2017," said Lei.

China awarded two shale gas blocks in 2011 and 16 blocks in 2012. The second round did not see any dominant state owned firm on the winners list. The round was dominated by private companies and local governments.

Jin Zhijun, president of Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute with Sinopec Corp. predicted China would produce 20 billion to 30 billion cubic meters of shale gas by 2020.

China’s accumulated shale gas output is likely to reach 5 billion cubic meters by the end of 2015 including 1.5 billion cubic meters from PetroChina and 3.5 billion cubic meters from Sinopec Corp.