Shale gas development is reportedly included in China's major projects to be implemented in the coming five years.China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and British Petroleum Group (BP) signed a production sharing contract (PSC) for shale gas exploration,development and production in China in early April 2016.The two oil giants joined hands to unlock the potential of China's vast reserves of shale gas in the hope that it can generate a lucrative profit amid expectations of a rising oil price in the long term.The contract is the London-based energy giant's first shale gas PSC in China.It covers an area of about 1,500 square kilometers in the Neijiang-Dazu block in Sichuan Basin in the central western region of China.CNPC will be the operator for this project.