CHINA’S Sinopec said on Wednesday (Jan 17) that the Chinese government had recently certified 133 billion cubic meters of proven geological reserves of natural gas in its operation in southwest Sichuan basin.

The new reserve, certified by the Ministry of Natural Resources, marks the birth of yet another sizeable tight gas field as the state oil and gas giant steps up drilling deep and hard-to-extract reservoirs, the company said in a statement.

Sinopec has drilled 21 new exploration wells at the Hexingchang field that straddles the Deyang and Mianyang cities of Sichuan province, 4,500 meters to 5,500 meters below the surface, Sinopec said.

Each of these wells have yielded an average of 155,000 cubic meters of daily output, it added.

Tight gas refers to natural gas found in reservoir rocks with low permeability, most often sandstone.

Dominant state energy producers have in recent years stepped up development of geologically challenging oil and gas reservoirs, including those holding shale gas, shale oil and coalbed methane. REUTERS

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