Chinese oil company PetroChina vowed to catch up with its arch-rival Sinopec in shale gas production next year, as the two race to meet a government mandate to increase output of the fuel that has revolutionised the US energy sector.

Beijing’s planners have looked with envy on the flow of cheap gas that has lowered US energy prices and reduced that country’s dependence on imports. But similar success has so far eluded China, in part because of a more complicated geology and less developed legal and pipeline infrastructure, but also, critics say, because the dominant state owned oil companies were dragging their feet.

Sinopec has so far taken the lead, trumpeting its initial success at the Fuling field in southwestern Sichuan province. It plans to produce 5bn cubic metres (bcm) there by the end of 2015, accounting for the lion’s share of the national target of 6.5 bcm next year.