(Yicai Global) Jan. 6 -- China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation has started extracting natural gas from its deep shale gas field in Weirong, southwestern Sichuan province, the first of its kind in the country, the firm said today.

The gas field is already pumping out 3.5 million cubic meters a day, enough to meet the daily gas consumption of seven million households, said the company, also known as Sinopec. It comes in time to relieve some of the strain on China’s energy supplies as an unusually cold winter has led to a big surge in demand as people turn up the heating.

Phase two should be completed next year and will lift the annual output capacity to 3.3 billion cubic meters from 1.3 billion, it said.

The giant gas field, with proven reserves of 124.7 billion cubic meters, lies deep below the earth’s surface, at an average depth of 3,750 meters. Sinopec’s Southwest Petroleum Bureau has mastered the technique of extracting gas from depths of up to 4,000 meters.

Editor: Kim Taylor