China will extract and use more shale gas in the near future, said听Johnson Ji, general manager of the听Middle East region of the oil and gas integrated company听Jereh International on Thursday.
During his speech at the 14th Turkish International Oil and Gas Conference in Ankara,听Ji听said as China has the biggest shale gas reserves in the world,听the Chinese government's target is to produce 30 billion cubic meters听per year which represents 20 percent of听China's total natural gas consumption.听
Ji underlined that China imported听equipment from the U.S. to extract shale gas. However,听now the country has its听own shale equipment and technologies听and only imports five percent of its equipment听needs.
"This will help us to extract more shale gas," Ji added.
Despite China having the world's most reserves, the U.S. has been the leading country in terms of global shale gas production since 2008.
Shifting into an exporter status since its shale revolution in 2008, the U.S. enjoys its domestic production and decreasing independence on imports.听Since the so听called 'shale revolution,' the U.S. enjoys the benefits of domestic oil and gas production which lowered its听dependency on oil听imports as its oil production levels reached 9 million barrels per day in 2014.听
"The production of shale gas is not as easy as in the U.S. because China has started production in 2009 and the water source in China is limited," Ji said, referring to the need to have large volumes of water for the extraction of shale.
"In China, Sinopec and PetroChina have reported commercial production of shale gas from fields in the Sichuan Basin," the听U.S. Energy Information Administration, EIA听said.听
By听Huseyin Erdogan
Anadolu Agency
huseyin.erdogan@aa.com.tr
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