Gas war: shale gas - now in China

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The USA is actively developing the shale industry, including the production of shale gas. However, shale gas production is growing rapidly in China. The fuel problem for China has always been very acute, especially against the backdrop of the plans of the Chinese leadership to finally gasify vast territories of the country. Demand for gas consumed by Chinese enterprises and households is growing, so Beijing has set about developing shale deposits.





In 2017, nearly 600 wells were developed in China, yielding 9 billion cubic meters of products. By 2020, China could increase shale gas production to 17 billion cubic meters. However, the expected gas production is much lower than the indicators that the Chinese leadership is striving to achieve, which set the goal of producing 30 billion cubic meters of shale gas in 2020. In order to produce such an amount of gas, China would have to put into operation at least 725 new wells in excess of the planned 700, which will be drilled in the southwestern part of Sichuan. It is clear that while it is almost impossible.

Shale gas production is an expensive process, and well development in China is even more expensive than in the United States. Such a high cost is associated with the fact that most of the shale deposits are located in mountainous areas, for example, in the same province of Sichuan. Drilling new wells in the mountains is much more difficult and expensive. So, China has planned approximately $ 5,5 billion for the development of Sichuan deposits.

According to experts, the Chinese authorities will have to invest an additional $ 1400 billion in drilling the new 2020 wells by 12. In addition to the financial problem, China is faced with an insufficient level of development of technologies production, which, however, can also be solved by increasing funding for development. However, it is possible that Beijing will still be able to find investors. Indeed, if you do not take into account the cost of drilling wells, China is a very promising space for the development of shale deposits. The country's shale gas reserves amount to 1,115 trillion cubic feet.

Nevertheless, while China is ten times behind in shale gas production from the United States. If in China in 2017, 9 billion cubic meters of shale gas were produced, then in the United States - 474,6 billion cubic meters. China makes up for gas shortages by increasing imports. So, at present, Beijing is the second-largest importer of American shale gas in the world after Tokyo, and import volumes will only increase.

By the way, the import of shale gas from the USA is one of the main "peacekeeping" mechanisms in the deteriorated relations between the two states. After all, while China remains one of the largest buyers of American shale gas, the trade wars that Trump unleashes against China will hit the interests of American producers and negatively affect the American the economy.
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  1. +2
    29 May 2018 14: 15
    I think the Chinese this shale gas production will fly a pretty penny. It will be simpler and cheaper to buy gas in a pipe from Russia.

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