Chinese & Australian Shale Gas

05/29/2014

China

Although serious obstacles remain, China is finally making progress on tapping its vast shale gas reserves, which hold the promise of a new source of clean energy for the coal smoke-choked country.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, China holds the world’s largest reserves of technically recoverable shale gas in the world, 1,115 trillion cubic feet. That’s about 68 percent more than what the U.S. holds.

A report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance finds that China may actually hit its 2015 shale gas production target, which the central government has mandated. Researchers analyzed the results of well data from the Fuling block in the Sichuan Basin, state-owned firm Sinopec is making substantial progress, and the national target of 6.5 billion cubic meters per year (480 million cubic feet per day) by 2015 could be within reach.

By 2017, China is aiming to lift natural gas consumption to 9 percent of total energy demand, up from 5.2 percent in 2013. China has already made some progress on that front, as natural gas only made up 4 percent of energy demand just two years ago (see chart).

Chinese Energy Consumption

Australia

Australia is building a massive project for new liquefied natural gas (LNG). Already one of the world’s largest exporters of LNG, Australia plans on moving to the top spot over the next 3-4 years, potentially overtaking Qatar. It currently has the capacity to export 23 million tons per annum (mtpa), but it plans to almost quadruple that total by 2017. The 62 mtpa under construction there accounts for almost two-thirds of the total LNG capacity under construction around the world.