China apos;s Sinopec Raises Shale Gas Reserve Size In Sichuan Basin

BEIJING, Oct 15 (Reuters) - China Petroleum and Chemical Corp said on Thursday that it has added newly proven shale gas geological reserves of 191.83 billion cubic metres (bcm) at the Fuling gas field in the Sichuan basin.

That raises the total estimated geological reserve of the Fuling block in southwestern China, Lạc Sơn Đại Phật the country's first large commercial shale gas project, to 792.64 bcm, kynghidongduong.vn according to a statement from the company known as Sinopec.

The newly proven reserves at Fuling were certified by the Ministry of Natural Resources, the company said.

Sinopec President Ma Yongsheng said earlier this year that the company aims to nearly double its shale gas output to 13 bcm per year by 2025, in response to Beijing's call to improve the country's energy security and to boost natural gas consumption.

Sinopec has total proven geological shale gas reserves of 940.77 bcm in China, the statement said.

(Reporting by Muyu Xu in Beijing and Chen Aizhu in Singapore; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)