The Ministry of Natural Resources of China has granted approval to oil and gas company Sinopec to develop the Weirong shale gas field in the Sichuan province (southwestern China). In a first phase of construction, Sinopec will start 2 testing wells, which should produce a combined 566,000 m3/d (207 mcm/year). The group plans to build 166 wells with a total shale gas production capacity of 3 bcm/year.
China is developing its vast shale oil and shale gas resources; in 2018, shale oil production made up less than 1% of China's total crude oil production, while shale gas accounted for 6% of domestic gas production (over 10 bcm). According to the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR), the domestic shale oil has very low permeability, which means very low per well output that makes them most of the time rather uneconomic. Domestic shale oil resources are trapped in eastern regions such as the Songliao and Bohai Rim basins - some other areas such as Ordos and Junggar basins are also expected to hold large shale oil resources - while shale gas resources are highly concentrated in Sichuan.