Chevron buys Chinese gas acreage

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SAN RAMON, Calif., Jan. 17 (UPI) -- Exploring new blocks acquired by a Chevron subsidiary in China will help the company expand its regional natural gas footprint, an executive said.

Chevron China Co. announced it entered into production sharing contracts with China National Offshore Oil Corp. to explore blocks 15/10 and 15/28 in the Pearl River Mouth basin in the South China Sea.

"Exploration of these blocks builds on our strategy to grow our business across the Asia Pacific region, where we are developing liquefied natural gas, deepwater, shale and sour gas resources," said George Kirkland, vice chairman of Chevron Corp., in a statement.

Chevron serves as the operator of the two shallow water blocks that cover an area of about 2,233 square miles.

The Chinese Ministry of Land Resources last month announced that 83 companies competed for 20 blocks in the country's latest shale gas auction. Chinese shale may be located in parts of the country were infrastructure development is complex, however.

For shale and other unconventional sources of natural gas, China aims to prove explorable reserves of around 7 trillion cubic feet by 2015.