CNPC Establishes Shale Gas Transit Station
Chinese state-owned entity, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), started up a shale gas transit station in the province of Sichuan on October 19, it said October 22.
The shale gas transit station in Weiyuan has a capacity to supply 9bn m3/yr of gas and connects the Weiyuan shale gas field to the pipeline grid. The field is part of the Changning-Weiyuan shale gas demonstration zone that was established in 2007.
CNPC said it plans to produce 12bn m3/yr of shale gas by 2020 with the Weiyuan field contributing 5bn m3/yr.
With demand for gas increasing owing to government’s coal to gas switching policy, Asia’s largest economy is looking to exploit its vast shale gas reserves. Recently, China’s natural resources ministry said the country’s technically recoverable shale gas reserves increased by 62% year-on-year to reach 916.8bn m3 by end-2017.
In April, WoodMac said it expects Chinese shale gas production to almost double from 2017 to reach 17bn m3 in 2020; at present the major producing fields are Sinopec's Fuling in the Chongqing region, and PetroChina's Changning-Weiyuan and Zhaotong projects in the mountainous Sichuan Basin.