OREANDA-NEWS. March 21, 2012. 19 shale gas exploration and development zones will be built till 2015, and Wuhu is listed among the 19 zones, released by the "Twelvfth Five Year Plan of Shale Gas" issued by the NDRC (National Development and Reform Commission).

The same with natural gas, gale gas consists mainly of methane which is a natural gas explored from shale. The gas is regarded as an important unconventional natural gas resource. MLR (The Ministry of Land and Resources of the P.R.C) started to investigate the shale gas situation in Anhui in 2009 and the result shows that Anhui has rich shale gas resource.

CNOOC (China National Offshore Oil Corp.) began to explore gas in Anhui in late last year, and the exploration area reach 4840 square kilometers including cities of Hefei, Wuhu, Maanshan, Tongling and Xuancheng. "The exploration of shale gas will not only change the energy pattern of Anhui but also reduce the price of Anhui's civil gas", said by a reporter from Anhui Bureau of Energy.