China’s Shale Gas Output Expects to Reach 4 Billion m3 in 2015

Sinopec Corp. and PetroChina Ltd. expect to have shale gas capacity of 5 billion m3/a and 2.5 billion m3/a at the end of 2015 respectively. At present, only Sinopec  and PetroChina have commercialized the exploitation of shale gas in China. It is expected that China’s total output of shale gas will exceed 4 billion m3 in 2015.
In middle August, the daily production and sales breakthrough 10 million m3 in Fuling shale gas field which is owned by Sinopec Group. Since now, the output of shale gas production is about 12.07 million m3/day and the sales of shale gas is about 12.02 million m3/day.
The production capacity of shale gas in Fuling shale gas field has exceeded 4 billion m3/a. Up to June 30, 2015, the accumulative production in Fuling shale gas field had been 2.124 billion m3 and the accumulative sales had been 2.036 billion m3.
According to H1 performance of Sinopec Corp., Sinopec stated that the output of oil and gas has decreased in accordance with the slump of oil price. The company produced 10.003 billion m3 of natural gas in the first half of 2015 and planned to produce 15.2 billion m3 natural gas in the second half. The output that increases in the second half year is contributed mainly by shale gas. The company will make great effort to invest in and explore the shale gas in Sichuan, Junggar Basin, etc.
It is forecasted that the output of shale gas from Sinopec Fuling shale gas field will excess 2.1 billion m3 during the second half year of 2015. Moreover, with the continuous growth of the shale gas’s production and sales, it is meaningful for shaping the multi-source of gas condition and releasing the contradiction between the supply and demand of gas in the middle and east China.
In addition, until August 18, 2015, PetroChina had put 47 wells into are operation in Changning-Weiyuan Shale Gas Demonstration Area, among which 22 wells are operated in Changning with the daily production of 2.36 million m3 and 25 wells operated in Weiyuan with the daily production of 1.26 million m3.
PetroChina’s interim-annual report in 2015 represents that company’s output of natural gas in the first half year is 0.24 billion m3 around China, increasing 1.1% over the same period of the previous year. Insiders estimate that the output of shale gas in PetroChina will increase to around 0.75 billion m3 in the second half year.
In a word, Sinopec will finish building the infrastructure which can reach the target of 5 billion m3 production capacity of shale gas and Sinopec will realize 3 billion m3 actual production capacity of shale gas at the end of 2015. PetroChina will build the infrastructure to reach the target of about 2.5 billion m3 production capacity of shale gas and will realize 1 billion m3 actual production capacity of shale gas at the end of 2015. It is estimated that other companies will build the capacity of 0.5 billion m3 shale gas and realize the 0.1 billion m3 actual production capacity of shale gas at the end of 2015. Generally speaking, China will build the total capacity of about 8 billion m3 shale gas capacity and output will exceed 4 billion m3 shale gas in 2015.
The development of shale gas in China is more successful than the development of coalbed methane, a same kind of unconventional natural gas.
The development of coalbed methane started in 1980s, 20 years earlier than the development of shale gas, and the low development speed is caused by the limitations in technologies and supporting pipe network facilities. The actual ground exploitation of coalbed methane in China was 3.6 billion m3 in 2014, while the target output of coalbed methane in China is 12 billion m3 in 2015, which is difficult to be realized.