BEIJING, Aug. 26 (UPI) -- Chinese state energy company PetroChina said it aims to accelerate the production of its domestic natural gas resources by targeting shale reserves.
PetroChina President Wang Dongjin said production of total unconventional gas in the country should reach 2.7 billion cubic feet per day by 2015, the Platts news service reported Friday. That's an increase from the 1.8 billion cubic feet per day produced during the first half of 2013.
PetroChina, during the first half of 2013, produced 8.1 percent more natural gas than it did during the same time last year.
The company said it would focus on shale reserve areas encompassing around 3,800 square miles in central China. The company said about 25 percent of the estimated 140 trillion cubic feet of gas is recoverable, Platts reported.
ConocoPhillips in February announced plans to work with PetroChina to study the potential to develop shale natural gas reserves in the Sichuan basin in southwestern China.
China is considered rich in shale resources and the country aims to duplicate efforts in the United States in terms of shale natural gas. Shale oil is in its preliminary stages in China and its shale reserves are considered more geologically complex to exploit than elsewhere in the world.
