Sichuan Shale Gas Output to Rise 70% in 2018
China’s Sichuan province is expected to produce 5.1bn m3 of shale gas in 2018, state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) said January 15. That's 70% more than last year.
It said January 5 that shale gas output in the southwestern Chinese province exceeded 3bn m3 in 2017, accounting for over 33% of overall Chinese shale gas production.
Shale gas production in Sichuan province currently exceeds 10mn m3/d, an increase of 28.37% over the same period of last year setting a record high, the company also said January 15.
PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gas Field Company plans to drill more than 400 new shale gas wells this year. Shale gas-related capacity building, block evaluation and technological innovation will be enhanced, CNPC said. In 2018 output at Changning-Weiyuan block will reach 4.1bn m3 while the rest 1bn m3 will come from other blocks, it forecast.
Almost all of shale gas is produced by PetroChina Southwest Oil and Gas Field Company, a unit of CNPC. At present, the main producing areas are in the Changning-Weiyuan block where, in 2017, a total of 163 shale gas wells were drilled. The block produced 2.473 bn m3 of gas last year, accounting for 82% of the total shale gas production in Sichuan Province.