Aerial photo taken on Feb. 22, 2020 shows a shale gas platform of China Petrochemical Corporation in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality. (Xinhua/Liu Chan)

The Fuling shale gas field in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality produced over 1.8 billion cubic meters of natural gas in the first quarter of 2022, up 1.67 percent year on year, according to Sinopec, the developer and China's largest oil refiner.

During the same period, the company sold 1.74 billion cubic meters of gas produced from the field.

Eight gas collecting stations and 36 new wells were put into operation in the first quarter, producing 33 million cubic meters of natural gas.

Meanwhile, Sinopec has carried out 83 operations to optimize low-efficiency wells, which raised their monthly production efficiency from 68.3 percent to 79.5 percent -- a cumulative increase of 19 million cubic meters of gas in the first quarter.

Shale gas is mainly methane. It is considered a clean, new energy resource.

The Fuling gas field, which began commercial development in 2014, produces over 20 million cubic meters of shale gas per day.