China has announced it will step down shale gas subsidies over the next five years, in a further blow to the nation’s plans to match the US “shale revolution”.
Subsidies will drop to RMB0.30 per cubic metre from 2016-2018 from RMB0.40 cubic metre now, and will be cut further to RMB0.20 in 2019-2020, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Beijing pushed its state-owned oil companies to develop shale in an effort to solve China’s reliance on oil imports by creating a domestic alternative by fiat. Oil companies Sinopec and PetroChina have vowed to meet centrally-set targets for shale gas production despite disappointing initial results. They say they needed subsidies to do so.