The State Development and Investment Corp (SDIC), China's largest state-owned investment firm, will invest huge amount of funds in developing shale gas resources in the southern city of Chongqing, Xinhua News reported.
With a total investment of 30 billion yuan ($4.71 billion), SDIC will in collaboration with the Chongqing government to strengthen cooperation in shale gas exploration, development and utilization, the report said.
Chongqing is aiming to achieve annual shale gas output of 1 billion cubic meters (bcm) over the next three years, it cited one top official as said.
Inspired by a shale boom in the United States, China has launched its own shale gas push since 2009 and aims to produce 6.5 bcm of the gas by the end of 2015 before a leap in production to 60-100 bcm by 2020.
China is believed to have the world's largest deposits of shale gas, with an estimated 1,275 trillion cubic feet, or 36 trillion cubic meters of technically recoverable shale-gas reserves.