Drilling Begins at Hunan's Sangzhi Shale Gas Block

Drilling for shale gas in China’s Sangzhi County began earlier this month, according to a statement by Hunan government published on its website on Sunday.

Drilling of Sangye Well No.1, which is located at Shanghexi Township, Sangzhi County, began on Sept. 9.

China Coal Geological Engineering Corp. won the Hunan Sangzhi shale gas block during China’s second shale gas bidding round held in 2012. During the round 19 blocks were awarded to 16 domestic companies.

Earlier this year, Shenhua Group started drilling on its Baojing shale block in Hunan's Baojing County. 

Shenhua Group won the bid for Hunan Baojing shale block during second shale gas bidding round in 2012 and completed the field extraction in July 2013. The Group has invested 200 million yuan in two wells in Baojing.

As per estimates, the total volume of shale gas in Hunan Province is 9.2 trillion cubic meters, 6th biggest in China, the state government said. The northwestern region is the largest shale gas area in Hunan province with a reserve of 4.81 trillion cubic meters.