Radio Free Asia: China Seeks Scapegoats in Expected Shale Gas Shortfall

As China searches for shale gas, it has been finding a host of reasons for falling short of its goals.

At recent conferences in Shanghai and Beijing, officials voiced confidence in meeting targets for the new natural gas technology in the near term.

But a host of problems surfaced for producing larger volumes of gas to fulfill the government's longer-term forecasts.

Speaking at an industry workshop in Beijing, National Energy Administration (NEA) vice director Zhang Yuqing said China was on track to produce 1-1.5 billion cubic meters (35-53 billion cubic feet) of gas this year from shale rock formations and 6.5 billion cubic meters (229.5 billion cubic feet) in 2015.

The figures were roughly in line with the NEA targets announced in March 2012.

But participants cited a series of obstacles to expanding production and duplicating the U.S. boom in shale gas that could make it a major source of cleaner energy for China by 2020. MORE