State-owned China National Petroleum Corp said Wednesday it has started building the country's first dedicated shale gas pipeline in central Sichuan province.
The pipeline will stretch 92.8 kilometers (58 miles), linking gas production wells in the Changning block to the Shuanghe gas processing station. It will have a capacity of 4.5 million cubic meters/day.
The pipeline will carry gas produced from the Changning-Weiyuan shale gas demonstration zone in the province, CNPC said. It did not say when the pipeline is due for completion.
China is looking to accelerate development of shale gas resources, which are believed to rival those of the US.
In a report published last week, Bernstein Research said CNPC is drilling 15 horizontal shale wells at Changning to assess project feasibility before making a decision on full-scale development. Flow rates were better than expected, with one well in particular producing 150,000 cu m/day after fracture stimulation, the report said.
"While it may be too early to draw conclusions from one well, it does highlight that the [shale from the Longmaxi formation] will flow gas and in good quantities making commerciality likely," the report said.
