OREANDA-NEWS. October 09, 2012. Guanghui Energy Co. Ltd. has authorized Xinjiang Guanghui Petroleum Co. Ltd., a holding subsidiary, to participate in China’s second tender for shale gas blocks next month, Guanghui Energy said in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

China’s Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR) has set a date of Oct. 25 for the much-delayed tender, which will offer 20 blocks in eight provinces and municipalities. The blocks span a total area of 20,002 square kilometers, with most of the acreage in Guizhou and Hunan provinces, and Chongqing Municipality.

Guanghui Petroleum has registered capital of RMB 600 million (94.71 million) and qualified for gas mining in February, according to the filing.

Guanghui Energy’s board of directors authorized Guanghui Petroleum to invest less than 10 percent of audited net assets into shale gas, the filing said. Guanghui Energy is one of the largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producers in China and the listed vehicle of Xinjiang Guanghui Industry Investment Group Co. Ltd., a privately held enterprise based in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Guanghui Energy is the latest Chinese company to announce its intention to bid in the highly anticipated tender, which state media reports say has drawn interest from more than 70 companies.

Last week, Shenzhen Stock Exchange-listed China Oil HBP Science & Technology Co. Ltd. said its board of directors had approved the oilfield services and equipment provider to participate in the licensing round. That announcement came after Chinese coking coal miner Wintime Energy Co. Ltd. said on Sept. 6 it would form a joint venture to bid in the auction.

“According to our information, more than 100 companies have obtained related documentation from the MLR. Many of them are state-owned companies controlled by the central government,” Zhang Kuiye, an analyst with China Energy NET Consulting Co. Ltd., told Interfax.

Guanghui Energy is the only non state-owned company in China with upstream oil and gas assets, acquired in 2009 through its purchase of a 49 percent stake in Kazakhstan’s Tarbagatay Munai LLP.

Tarbagatay Munai, which owns rights to resources near Lake Zaysan in east Kazakhstan, has put 13 wells into production and is ready to supply feed gas to an LNG plant in north Xinjiang’s Jeminay County, Guanghui Energy said in August.

Guanghui Energy may be able to leverage Tarbagatay Munai’s experience with conventional oil and gas development for its shale gas programme, Zhang said.

The lack of an independent oilfield services sector in China is worrying, as a large number of companies keen to enter the shale gas industry are inexperienced, according to Zhang.

“The companies without expertise in the sector can hire service units from oil and gas giants such as China National Petroleum Corp. International firms like Schlumberger Ltd are also willing to expand business in China,” Zhang said.

“In addition, [Guanghui Energy] has been in the LNG market for a long time, so it is well-versed in operating in the Chinese energy sector,” Zhang added.