China Invested $3.7bn in Shale Gas Exploration, Development During 2009-2014

China invested 23 billion yuan ($3.7bn) in shale gas exploration and development between 2009 and 2014, Xinhua Finance said Wednesday citing latest report by China Geological Survey with the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR).

The country had 54 shale gas blocks spread over an area of 170,000 square km. Total of 780 shale gas wells had been drilled by the end of 2014, according to the report.

Shale gas developers reported near 500 billion cubic meters of shale gas geological reserves by the end of 2014, including 106.75 billion cubic meters of proven geological shale gas reserves by Sinopec Corporation, the report stated.

By end-2014, China had 3.2 billion cubic meters of shale gas production capacity with accumulated shale gas output at 1.5 billion cubic meters and 1.3 billion cubic meters of shale gas output in 2014, Xinhua Finance said citing the report.

In 2015, the MLR would spend 680 million yuan ($109 mn) in shale gas survey to guarantee realizing shale gas output targets.

China aims to produce 6.5 billion cubic meters and 30 billion cubic meters of shale gas in 2015 and 2020, respectively.