The Chinese Sinopec company announced the establishment of the first phase of a new shale gas field, Weirong, in southwestern Sichuan at a production capacity estimated at 1 billion cubic meters of natural gas per year (bcm/y) , according to Reuters.

The company elaborated that it exploited the proven reserves at the deep shale gas field which reached 124.7 bcm after drilling operations at a depth of 3,750 meters under the surface of the earth.

Sinopec said that it had drilled 56 wells attached to eight drilling platforms during the first phase of development that started at the late of 2019.

It noted that it will proceed to the second phase of development which will bring the annual production capacity of Weirong to 3 bcm by 2022 or sufficient to cover annul fuel consumption of 16 million housing unit.

The current daily production capacity of Weirong is 3.5 million cubic meters of natural gas.