OREANDA-NEWS. August 24, 2012. Shale gas production in the southwestern Chinese municipality of Chongqing is projected to reach 1.3-1.5 billion cubic metres (bcm) in 2015, accounting for about a fifth of the country's total shale gas output target, local media reported.

China, the world's largest energy user, has yet to start large-scale shale production, but it is widely believed to hold the world's largest reserves of shale gas, which is trapped in rocks and requires a technology called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to release.

Chongqing, a sprawling municipality of more than 30 million people that overlaps the gas-rich Sichuan basin, is one of the country's most promising exploration areas for shale gas. Oil companies have drilled several wells there, one of which has produced an industrial flow.

Recoverable shale gas resources in Chongqing are estimated at 2.05 trillion cubic metres and the local authorities plan to drill 150 to 200 shale gas wells by 2015, the Chongqing Economic Times reported, citing figures from the local government.

Beijing has estimated the country has 25.08 trillion cubic metres of potentially recoverable shale gas resources, and aims to produce 6.5 billion cubic metres of shale gas by 2015.

The Ministry of Land and Resources is expected to hold its second shale gas auction within the next few weeks, government and industry sources have said. About 20 blocks spanning half of a dozen southern provinces, including Chongqing, with a total area of little over 10,000 square km, will be auctioned.