China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) started to drill its first shale oil well in the southwestern province of Sichuan, the company said in a statement on Monday

The well, with a designed hole depth of 3,735 metres (12,250 feet), attracted 10.62 million yuan ($1.50 million) investment, according to a document filed to local county government

Sinopec and CNPC are speeding up drilling and exploration from major tight and shale oil and gas formations in western China to boost domestic output

However, China’s shale oil, making up less than 1% of the crude output, remains in an early development phase due to challenging geology and hefty development costs