The China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec), one of the country's three biggest oil companies, on Thursday announced the discovery of more than 165 billion cubic meters of proven shale gas reserves in a field located at the junction of Hubei Province in central China and southwest China's Chongqing Municipality.

The discovery, which has been given the name Hongxing shale gas field, marks the emergence of another large-scale such field in China.

The shale gas reserves at the Hongxing site were found at depths between 3,300 and 5,500 meters amid complex geological structures, which presents significant challenges in terms of exploration and development, according to Sinopec.

Thanks to innovative technologies, the Hongxing shale gas field has achieved a single-well test production volume of 323,500 cubic meters per day – up from an initial 89,000 cubic meters per day.

As of today, Sinopec has established one shale gas field with reserves above 1 trillion cubic meters, namely the Fuling shale gas field in Chongqing, and four smaller and deep shale gas fields each with reserves exceeding 100 billion cubic meters, including the Hongxing field.