SINGAPORE Nov 1 (Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L: Quote) expects to start drilling in two shale gas blocks in southwestern China at the end of this year or early 2011, a company official said on Monday.
Drilling will start at the 4,000-square-kilometre Jinqiu and Fushun blocks in Sichuan province, Marc Gerrits, vice president for Shell Exploration Asia, told reporters on the sidelines of the Singapore Energy Summit.
He declined to elaborate on the investment cost.
Shell already produces 3 billion cubic metres a year of gas from a tight gas block at Changbei.
The European major earlier signed a 30-year production sharing contract with China National Petroleum Corp, parent of PetroChina (0857.HK: Quote), to develop tight gas in Jinqui.
(Reporting by Florence Tan; Editing by Ed Lane)
� Thomson Reuters 2010 All rights reserved
