China shale gas output surges to 5.01 bcm in Jan-July

China shale gas production rose from 600 million cubic metres at this time last year to 5.01 billion cubic metres in the first seven months of this year. Breitling Oil and Gas photo.

China shale gas up significantly from one year ago

BEIJING, Sept 1 (Reuters) – China produced 5.01 billion cubic metres of shale gas in the first seven months of the year, up from just over 600 million a year ago, data showed on Thursday, as the world’s second-largest energy market developed its nascent fracking industry.

Shale gas development is driving rising output of the country’s unconventional natural gas production, accounting for more than half of the total. Unconventional gas output doubled to 9.64 bcm from the first seven months of 2015, the statistics bureau said on Thursday.

(Reporting by Beijing monitoring desk; Editing by Himani Sarkar)