Bloomberg: Shell to Start Chinese Shale Gas Project Development From 2014

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), Europe’s largest oil company, said its shale gas project in China will require billions of dollars in investment from 2014 before it can supply the domestic market.

Along with China National Petroleum Corp., Shell plans to take a final investment decision by the end of next year after carrying out exploration work at the Fushun-Yongchuan block in the Sichuan basin. The partners have so far drilled 24 wells and plan a further 14 next year, said Maarten Wetselaar, executive vice president of Shell Upstream International.

“Before you have serious shale gas production you need hundreds of wells,” Wetselaar said in an interview this week. The project will require “billions, it’s a very substantial” investment.

Chinese may hold 1,275 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable gas, almost 50 percent more than that of the U.S., according to a U.S. Energy Information Administration forecast in April. The nation’s gas demand will rise five times through 2030, according to Shell’s estimates.  MORE