Problem Orientated Analysis on China’s Shale Gas Policy

Abstract

China has accelerated the pace of shale gas development from 2010. A series of policies were issued by the Chinese government to motivate and regulate shale gas exploration and exploitation. In order to investigate the effectiveness of these policies and provide reference to the policymakers, the most relevant policies from 2010 to 2016 were collected and analyzed. Our study summarized that, in total, eight government agencies issued 25 related policies, which cover all the main problems that impede China’s shale gas industry. With the aid of these policies, the approved research and development (R&D) funds exceed 350 million Chinese yuan (CNY) ($55 million), and over 80 domestic companies participated in exploration rights bidding and nine foreign companies initiated thirteen international cooperation projects. In 2016, China’s shale gas production reached 7.88 × 109 m3, ranking third in the world. However, these policies still have some shortcomings, such as low environmental concerns, weak financial stimulus, and inefficient implementation. Therefore, we suggest that future policy should put particular emphasis on (1) formulating special environmental regulations and determining development scale based on water resource; (2) providing detailed implementation plans and maintaining stable subsidy; (3) enhancing communication and supervision; and (4) establishing a public big data platform.

A review and comparative analysis on energy transition in major industrialized countries

“…Taking shale gas as an example, both China and US attach great importance to the shale gas. The United States promotes the shale gas revolution through a strong market mechanism, the SMEs are the main force for shale gas development in US 44 . However, apart from the Three Major Oils (CNPC, Sinopec Group, CNOOC), other enterprises in China are unlikely to obtain oil and gas development blocks.…”

Elastic-Plastic-Damaged Zones around a Deep Circular Wellbore under Non-Uniform Loading

“…The brittleness coefficient characterizes the degree of strain-softening of the rock mass and can be expressed by Equation (2). Take the brittleness coefficient as 0.3, 0.5, 0.8, 1.2, 5, 10, 15, 30 in order, and draw the curves of the plastic zone radius with the brittleness coefficient, as shown in Figure 10.…”

“…In recent years, with the rapid development of the economy and society, unconventional oil and gas production, geothermal exploitation, and deep underground space development become major national strategic demands of China [1,2]. In these projects, drilling is one of the most basic and extensive operations.…”

China’s Shale Gas Development Subsidy Analysis and Optimization considering Resource Endowment Characteristic

“…With the flexible application of government funds, there are a variety of allowance options that have emerged. But most researchers believe that direct production subsidy is by far the most effective economic incentive for shale gas development [20][21][22]. And as a capital-intensive and technology-intensive industry, these scrimpy subsidies are undoubtedly changing the investment behavior of some shale gas developers.…”