Shanghai Daily: Extracting shale gas has a 'very long road to go'

China’s careful step-by-step approach to developing what it says are the world's largest shale gas reserves will give Chinese energy companies time to prepare their own plans for exploration and production.

According to a shale gas industry plan released last month, China aims to produce 6.5 billion cubic meters of shale gas annually by 2015, rising to an ambitious 60-100 billion cubic meters by 2020. That would equal last year's natural gas production in China.

Geological, technical and commercial challenges are all hurdles facing the domestic industry, which is at an early stage of exploring for the fuel, analysts and experts said. MORE