GE Looking at Chines Shale Industry

GE Oil & Gas, a subsidiary of General Electric Co, is reportedly in talks with China’s three big oil and gas companies about possible cooperation on the development of the country's shale gas industry.

Liu Bo, general manager of GE Oil & Gas Greater China, said the global technology and solutions provider is working on a market evaluation of the sector, which should take around 2 to 3 months to complete, China Daily reported.

The three Chinese companies involved are China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC), China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group), and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC).

China plans to be pumping 6.5 billion cubic meters of shale gas by 2015, reaching an annual output of 60 billion to 100 billion cu m by the end of 2020, according to the country's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) on shale gas exploration.