China Looks Set To Be Top Shale Gas Producer

Royal Dutch Shell Plc says China looks set to surpass the U.S. and Canada in the supply of shale gas.

In an interview with CNBC, Peter Voser, CEO of Anglo-Dutch energy giant said that shale gas in China was a key strategy for Shell.

The company recently signed a Global Alliance Agreement with and China National Petroleum Corp. to establish cooperation opportunities in China and abroad.

Voser said that the partnership has worked very well and that success in China was is based on a win-win partnership, both inside and outside China.

“If you only focus on what you can do inside China, and not let these companies participate on the global stage, I think this will not be successful. So we are combining with CNPC's technologies to (extend) the global range. We are in Australia, Syria and Qatar. We have shale gas acre-age in China, and we do R&D together,” said Voser.

In March 2010, Shell and CNPC announced plans to jointly develop and produce tight gas reservoirs in China's Sichuan Basin, submitting a production sharing contract to Chinese authorities for approval to develop tight gas in the Jinqiu shale gas block.

Shell and PetroChina Co., the listed unit of CNPC, are already operating the Changbei tight gas field in the Ordos Basin in Shaanxi province of China and exploring the Fushun-Yongchuan block in Sichuan.

China’s shale gas deposits may hold 12 times more fuel than its conventional fields, the U.S. Department of Energy estimated in April.

Peter Voser is interview by Christine Tan on CNBC’s  Managing Asia. The full interview will be broadcast on July 22nd at 1730 (SIN/HK).

Source: CNBC