Sinopec Aims to Produce 1.8 Bcm of Shale Gas in 2014 from Fuling Field

China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation or Sinopec Monday announced it is planning to develop the Fuling shale gas field into China’s first shale gas field.

The field is projected to have an annual production capacity of 10 billion cubic meters by 2017.

“This marks an important strategic breakthrough in China’s shale gas development and signifies the country’s earlier-than-expected entry into large-scale commercial development phase,” Sinopec said.

The Fuling shale gas field in Chongqing has reserves of 2.1 trillion cubic meters and Sinopec expects the annual capacity of Fuling shale gas field to reach 1.8 billion cubic meters by the end of 2014 and 5 billion cubic meters by 2015, a ten-fold increase than previously planned.

“The discovery and construction of Fuling shale gas field, China’s first-ever large-scale shale gas field, symbolizes a significant strategic breakthrough in shale gas development in China and a much earlier entry into large-scale commercial development, which would otherwise have taken 10 years according to the original plan,” Fu Chengyu, Chairman of Sinopec, said.

China aims to produce 6.5 billion cubic meters of shale gas by 2015, according to the nation’s Development Plan for Shale Gas, launched in 2013.

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