CHANGCHUN, Jan. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Northeast China's Jilin Province will partner with Shell Exploration Company B.V., a subsidiary of Royal Dutch/Shell Group, to exploit oil shale, said Zhao Shengtang,director of the provincial land resources department.

    Oil shale is a rock that yields petroleum when distilled. Compared to conventional oil reserves, it is far more costly and requires more complicated technology.

    Shell will apply its (In-situ Conversion Process (ICP) technology) in the exploitation, which produces shale oil with better quality.

    Zhao acknowledged that a set of ICP facility can recover five to 15 million tons of crude oil from oil shale each year.

    Experts believed that the partnership provides an opportunity for China to commercialize the oil shale resources and help the country ease energy shortages.

    Shell agreed to set up a joint venture with the Bureau of Geological Exploration and Mineral Development in the province to explore for oil shale in early December of 2004.

    In June 2004, China's State Development and Reform Commission, the country's top economic planning body, approved a major oil shale project in Jilin with an estimated investment of 2.75 billion yuan (332.5 million US dollars).

    China is estimated to have the fourth largest oil shale deposits in the world at 31.57 billion tons, after the United States, Brazil and Russia. About 17 billion tons, or 55 per cent of the country's proved oil shale deposits, are estimated to be located in Jilin. Enditem