On March 16, China's National Energy Administration (NEA) officially issued the 12th Five-year (2011-2015) Program for the shale gas sector, which is jointly edited by the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Land and Resources and NEA.
In the programming period, China has designed three aims to be completed. First, by 2015, China will basically complete the survey and assessment of shale gas resources nationwide; Second, China will construct nineteen shale gas exploration and development zones, initially realize industrial production with production reaching 6.5 billion cubic meters in 2015; Third, China will work hard to make progress in the key technologies of shale gas exploration and development. There will be domestic companies able to manufacture main exploration and production equipment. A series of shale gas standards and regulations will be formed, complete policy system will be set up.
The program estimates China's recoverable reserve amount of shale gas approaches 25 trillion cubic meters, exceeding the amount of conventional natural gas. But China's shale gas industry is still in the initial stage.
On December 3, the Ministry of Land and Resources has issued an announcement that China has listed shale gas as a single mineral resource to strengthen management. This Ministry started to invite bidding for exploration right of shale gas.
At present China's exploration actions mainly focus on Sichuan, Erdos, western China. As of the end of 2011, China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) drilled 11 assessment wells, China National Ocean Oil Corp (CNOOC) and Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Group also achieved progresses.
Before 2015, China will emphasize on building nineteen key exploration areas in Changning, Weiyuan, Zhaotong, Fushun-Yongchuan, Jiyang, Yanan, Xinyuan, Shouyang, Wuhu, Nanchuan, etc.
During 2015-2020, more investment will be put on these areas to promote shale gas production to grow greatly. Meanwhile, new exploration areas will be built in provinces of Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, in basins of Erdos, Songliao, Junggar, Tuha, Halimu, Bohai Bay. By 2020, China shall produce 60 - 100 billion cubic meters of shale gas.