China to triple output of unconventional gas

China will almost triple domestic output of unconventional gas, such as shale gas, tight gas and coal bed gas, by 2020 as upstream producers boost exploration after a nationwide price increase.

Supply is estimated to rise to 120 billion cubic meters a year by 2020, China Petroleum & National Corp said in a newsletter posted on its website. China's unconventional gas supply was 44.5 billion cu m in 2012, China National Petroleum Corp said on its website in March.

Domestic gas suppliers in the world's largest energy user may be encouraged to boost production of tight gas and shale gas after prices were lifted last week, Neil Beveridge, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said last week.

The country raised city-gate prices for non-residential users by an average of 15 percent from July 10, the first increase in three years.