Significant shale gas discovery certified

China has certified a significant addition to its shale gas reserves with the official recognition of a shale gas field in the Jianghan oilfield recently, marking the emergence of another large-scale shale gas resource for the world's second-largest economy amid the trend of steady growth in domestic energy supply.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec), the world's largest refiner, announced earlier the discovery of more than 165 billion cubic meters of proven shale gas reserves in a field located at the junction of Hubei province in Central China and Southwest China's Chongqing municipality.

The geological structure of the shale gas reserves, found at depths between 3,300 and 5,500 meters, is complex with significant challenges in exploration and development. With technological innovation, the shale gas field has achieved a single-well test production volume of 323,500 cubic meters per day, up from an initial 89,000 cubic meters per day, it said.

Industry experts believe China's energy self-sufficiency is increasingly reliant on domestic oil and gas production, fueled by advancements in exploration and production technologies. This has bolstered the energy resilience of the world's second-largest economy.

With sustained investment in both conventional and unconventional energy sources, Chinese oil and gas firms are aggressively pursuing exploration and development to expand reserves and improve efficiency, said Lu Ruquan, head of the China National Petroleum Corp Economics and Technology Research Institute.

The three major players of China's oil and gas industry: China National Petroleum Corp, China National Offshore Oil Corp and Sinopec, have been stepping up investment in exploration and development in recent years, leading to significant discoveries across various oil and gas fields, he said.

These efforts demonstrably reduced China's reliance on crude oil imports in 2024. The nation's oil and gas sector displayed considerable strength last year, utilizing advanced technologies to ramp up domestic production and lessen dependence on foreign sources, said Lu.

Figures released by the institute reveal that China's total oil and gas output surpassed 400 million metric tons of oil equivalent last year, while total power generation exceeded 10 trillion kilowatt-hours, marking a 5.7 percent increase over the previous year.

Currently, Sinopec has established one shale gas field with reserves above 1 trillion cubic meters, namely the Fuling shale gas field in Chongqing, and four smaller and deep shale gas fields each with reserves exceeding 100 billion cubic meters, including the Hongxing field.