Changing Shale Field to Boost Gas Output

China's Changning shale gas field in southwestern Sichuan province will more than double its output during the winter heating season after putting new wells into operation, China's top oil and gas group CNPC said on Wednesday.

Daily output at the field, which began operating in 2015, is expected to reach 12 million cubic metres during the heating season from mid-November through mid-March, CNPC said on its website.

That represents an increase of 7.5 million cubic metres a day over last year, a rise of 166 percent, it said.

China's Sinopec and PetroChina (PCCYF) are speeding up drilling and exploration from major tight and shale oil and gas formations in the country's western regions to boost domestic output.

China produced 9 billion cubic metres (bcm) of shale gas last year, or 6 percent of its total gas output, from three key projects - Sinopec's Fuling, and PetroChina's Changning-Weiyuan and Zhaotong

The Changning field, operated by CNPC's listed unit PetroChina, has produced a record 1.404 bcm of gas so far this year, CNPC said.

(Reporting by Chen Aizhu; editing by Richard Pullin)