Total and Sinopec Group to explore and produce shale gas

Top executives of the French oil company Total SA disclosed that new ties with China will shift its focus toward shale-gas. Total said China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec Group) now owns a 2% stake in the company, and that it had reached an agreement with Sinopec Group to search for and produce shale gas in China. The U.S. energy market had been transformed by shale gas, and China hopes to tap its rich but technically challenging shale gas reserves, which consist of natural gas that are trapped in rock formations. (March 18, 2012)