Wall Street Journal citing an unnamed source said that major US Oil Company Chevron Corp and China Petrochemical Corp may join forces to explore and develop shale gas in southwestern China at the end of the year.

The paper said Chevron has identified a gas block near Guiyang in Guizhou province close to an area that BP and Sinopec Group are exploring.

Mr John Watson chairman & CEO of Chevron said the company is talking with Sinopec about cooperating on shale gas in China, but he did not give a timetable.

Mr Gareth Johnstone the Singapore based spokesman for Chevron confirmed the news to Bloomberg by e-mail recently, but did not elaborate beyond that.

Sinopec Group said it aims to have the capacity to produce 2.5 billion cubic meters of unconventional gas annually by the end of 2015 including shale gas and coalbed methane.

(Sourced from Wall Street Journal)