Shale gas in China

Although production rates were small as of 2013, the volume of technically recoverable unconventional shale gas in China has been estimated to be 1,115 trillion cubic feet (31.6 trillion cubic meters), the largest of any country in the world.[1][2] As of 2013, China is one of only three countries (with the US and Canada) to produce shale gas in commercial quantities.[3]

China is turning to natural gas as a way to decrease air pollution created by burning coal.[4] In 2011, 70 percent of China’s energy consumption came from coal, 18 percent from oil and only 4.5% came from natural gas.[5] Although conventional natural gas production in China has increased rapidly since 2000, it has not kept up with demand, and China has increasing imports of gas. In 2011, China consumed 147 bcm of natural gas, but produced only 107 bcm; the remainder, 27 percent of national consumption, was imported.[6] Shale gas is seen as a way to reduce or eliminate dependence on imported gas.[7]

  1. ^ US Energy Information Administration, Technically Recoverable Shale Oil and Shale Gas Resources, 13 June 2013.
  2. ^ http://www.nbr.org/downloads/pdfs/eta/PES_2011_Facts_Global_Energy.pdf Unconventional Gas and the Implications for the LNG Market by Chris Gascoyne and Alexis Aik. Written for the 2011 Pacific Energy Summit
  3. ^ US Energy Information Administration, North America leads the world in production of shale gas, 23 Oct. 2013.
  4. ^ David Wogan, "When, not if, China taps into shale gas", Scientific American, 30 Oct. 2013.
  5. ^ U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)
  6. ^ China Statistical Yearbook,2012In 2011
  7. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)