China's Third Shale Gas Bidding Round to Happen Soon

China is expected to launch third round of auction of shale gas blocks by the end of this year, according to Shanghai Securities News.

The winners are likely to be announced next year and the blocks on offer are expected to be more that the total of the previous two rounds, a source in the Energy Research Institute told Shanghai Securities News.

The second round of bidding took place in September last year, and the winners were announced in December by the Ministry of Land and Resources. The Ministry awarded 19 shale blocks to 16 companies.

In the first round of bidding, only China National Petroleum Corp and Henan Provincial Coal Seam Gas Development and Utilization Co Ltd had successful bids.

Estimates have said Chinese shale gas reserves surpass even that of North America and will be sufficient for the next 60 years at the current Reserve to Production (R/P) ratio. 

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