PetroChina Speeds Up Shale Oil Exploration in Xinjiang: Xinhua

State-owned PetroChina’s Xinjiang branch May 30 said it has accelerated the exploitation of shale oil in a large deposit this year, Xinhua news agency reported the same day.

The Xinjiang Oilfield Company said it had drilled 47 wells in the Jimsar shale oil reservoir, this year, with eight wells already completed. The company plans to drill nearly 100 wells in total, Xinhua dded.

A high-yield well was discovered in the reservoir in 2012, and the oil reserves were ascertained in 2017.

According to the company's development plan, the Jimsar shale oil reservoir will produce 1mn metric tons of crude oil in 2021, and 2mn mt in 2025 and keep stable production for nine years, the news agency said.