Sinopec, the Chinese oil and gas group, said yesterday that it was in talks with BP over potential collaboration in the exploration and development of shale gas. The move underlines growing international interest in China's shale gas fields.
In a company newsletter, Sinopec said the talks were going “smoothly” and that any deal would help China use foreign technology to speed up the development of its potentially large shale gas reserves.
The talks follow an announcement last November that Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina, another of the country's state-owned oil groups, had signed a joint development project for shale gas resources in Sichuan, south-west China.