{"id":2972,"date":"2019-04-10T10:52:54","date_gmt":"2019-04-10T10:52:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euromenaenergy.com\/?p=2972"},"modified":"2019-04-10T10:52:54","modified_gmt":"2019-04-10T10:52:54","slug":"shell-enters-china-shale-oil-scene-with-sinopec","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/?p=2972","title":{"rendered":"Shell enters China shale oil scene with Sinopec"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Reuters \/Singapore<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Royal Dutch Shell has entered China\u2019s shale oil sector, signing an agreement with state-owned Sinopec to study an East China block, part of the nation\u2019s early efforts to unlock the potentially massive unconventional resource.
\nChina is already in the initial stages of developing its vast shale gas resources, with production last year making up just 6% of total gas output after more than a decade of work.
\nChina\u2019s shale oil is at an even more basic phase due to challenging geology and hefty development costs, experts said.
\nShale oil makes up less than 1% of China\u2019s crude output after several years of development, according to Angus Rodger, research director of Asia-Pacific upstream at Wood Mackenzie.
\n\u201cChina\u2019s shale oil has very low permeability, which means very low per well output that makes the economics hard to work,\u201d said an oil and gas official with China\u2019s Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR). The official declined to be named because he\u2019s not authorised to speak with the press.<\/p>\n

Sinopec said yesterday it had agreed with Shell to study the Dongying trough of Shengli in China\u2019s eastern province of Shandong, without giving further details.
\nShell confirmed the joint study agreement, but did not offer further comment.
\nThat makes Shell one of the few international oil and gas explorers venturing into China\u2019s shale oil sector, and follows the Anglo-Dutch company\u2019s exit from shale gas drilling in Sichuan province in the southwest after spending at least $1bn and getting unsatisfactory results.
\nUnlike shale gas resources, which are highly concentrated in Sichuan, most of China\u2019s shale oil is trapped in eastern regions such as the Songliao and Bohai Rim basins.
\nNorth China\u2019s Ordos and Junggar basins are also believed to hold large shale oil resources, the experts said.
\nThe Dongying trough is part of the Bohai Rim basin, where top Chinese oil and gas group China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) said in February that it is developing another small shale oil field with an annual output of 50,000 tonnes this year.
\nIn 2013, US energy firm Hess Corp signed a production-sharing contract with PetroChina, CNPC\u2019s listed arm, to develop the Malang block of Santanghu basin in the northwest region of Xinjiang, China\u2019s first shale oil deal.
\nHess quit the block around late 2014 due to poorer-than-expected drilling prospects and as global oil prices plunged, said the MNR official.
\n\u201cThe understanding of geology, resource and the best recovery techniques (for shale oil) has only just begun,\u201d said Woodmac\u2019s Rodger.
\nSinopec is hoping Shell\u2019s expertise in shale oil exploration could help the Chinese state major turn around its fortunes at Shengli oilfield as the reserves at the giant conventional oilfield are depleting rapidly, said Rodger.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reuters \/Singapore Royal Dutch Shell has entered China\u2019s shale oil sector, signing an agreement with state-owned Sinopec to study an East China block, part of the nation\u2019s early efforts to unlock the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2982,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[46,48,57,90,96,107,113,137,139,160,174,183,184,201,202,209,230,232,233,244,246,249,256,267,277,279,288],"class_list":["post-2972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-aramco","tag-athens","tag-baroudi","tag-democracy","tag-doha","tag-embargo","tag-energy-peace","tag-gas","tag-gazprom","tag-international-maritime-disputes","tag-lebanon","tag-maritime-boundaries-east-mediterranean","tag-maritime-disputes","tag-offshore","tag-oil","tag-opec","tag-poverty-alleviation","tag-putin","tag-qatar","tag-rosneft","tag-roudi","tag-russia","tag-saudi","tag-straddling-hydrocarbons-reserves","tag-total","tag-trump","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emimer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}