The London-based explorer BP and China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) have signed a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) for shale gas exploration, development, and production in the Neijiang-Dazu block in the Sichuan Basin, China.

BP is thus seeking to hit it big in China’s shale gas fields where competitors including Royal Dutch Shell Plc have struck out, and to target the same areas that rival ConocoPhillips has walked away from, Bloomberg reported.

The PSC comes after BP and CNPC signed a framework agreement on strategic cooperation last October during the visit to the UK of President of The People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, as Oil Online wrote. In addition to unconventional resources, the framework agreement covers possible future fuel retailing ventures in China, exploration of oil and LNG trading opportunities globally, and carbon emissions trading as well as sharing of knowledge around low carbon energy and management practices.