PetroChina hopes to produce 1bn cubic metres of shale gas in 2015 from Sichuan basin in southwest China, a company executive said, giving the country its first major commercial production of shale gas.

PetroChina’s explorers are working on three blocks, with the first two acreages totalling 6,567 sq km and the third one, a 3,818 sq km block under joint study with Royal Dutch Shell, said Li Luguang, head of PetroChina’s Sichuan subsidiary.