Big FT piece.
China, we are told, has enough shale gas to cover its needs for 200 years. It currently has no commercial production but wants to reach 60B cubic meters by 2020. A number of big Chinese and foreign energy firms are currently exploring China, with Sinopec running the big Tarim basin that is routinely described as the biggest in the world.
Dozens of exploratory wells have, so far, yielded mixed results. The geology is just not the same as the US - more complex, so serious additional innovation will be required. China's reserves are deeply buried and feature more clay, which is far harder to break up to release the gas.
China also lacks the US's existing pipeline network and trained personnel.
To overcome the stiffness of its three primary national energy companies, China has allowed foreign companies in and plans to liberalize prices on oil so its own companies will invest more.
Then there's the Chinese investment in US firms over here, a development that's been met with far less resistance than when CNOOC tried to buy Unocal seven years ago. CNOOC plopped a solid $2b into Chesapeake Energy to access some of this technology.
This will be one follow-on to the US fracking revolution worth watching closely.