China fracking proceeds despite earthquake risk

China won't let earthquakes hinder its quest for energy.

Companies such as Royal Dutch Shell and China National Petroleum are starting to drill for gas and oil in shale rock in Sichuan, the nation's most seismically active province, a process geologists say raises the risk of triggering quakes.

"For the Sichuan basin, earthquakes are a problem for shale gas and shale oil production because of the tectonic conditions," said Shu Jiang, a professor at the University of Utah's Energy and Geoscience Institute in Salt Lake City. "The siting of the wells could cause some artificial earthquakes."

China's shale gas reserves may be almost double those of the United States, where unlocking the commodity slashed energy costs, reduced imports and raised the prospect of energy independence.

The US shale boom may add as much as US$690 billion a year to the country's gross domestic product and create 1.7 million jobs by 2020, according to a study by McKinsey.

For China, emulating the US would provide greater energy security and help curtail dependence on burning coal that blankets cities in smog.