Damon Evans, SINGAPORE: US independent Hess and PetroChina have established a joint venture to explore and develop shale-oil reserves in northwest China’s Xinjiang region.
The pair will appraise the shale-oil potential of the Santanghu Malang Trough, which spans 1,500 square kms in Xinjiang’s Turpan-Hami (Tuha) basin.
The region’s possible and probable shale-oil reserves stand at 357 million tonnes or 2.6 billion barrels, according to a report by the official Xinhua news agency. The figure is almost double estimates given in a study carried out by China University of Petroleum last year for Petro...