OREANDA-NEWS. November 14, 2013. The Shale Oil Joint Research Center co-established by CNPC and Shell was inaugurated in CNPC's Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development in Beijing.

In recent years, under the MOUs signed between CNPC and Shell on technology R&D cooperation, the two companies have stepped up efforts in joint researches on unconventional oil and gas development, exemplified by shale oil, CBM, and shale gas projects. Research on shale oil will open unconventional oil exploration to new possibilities.

Research targets of the center are the marine facies shale oil blocks in the US and the continental facies shale oil blocks in China. Research offices will be set up in the two countries respectively. Theoretical basis of shale oil geology will be studied in the first phase of three years. Efforts on engineering technology R&D will be emphasized in the second phase.