BEIJING, Oct. 30 -- Sinopec announced on Thursday that its Fuling shale gas project in Chongqing has produced one billion cubic meters of gas since commercial exploration began in March 2013.

China's leading energy company said the gas is mainly used locally for both industrial and household purposes. One billion cubic meters of gas would meet annual gas needs for four million households.

The company aims to extract five billion cubic meters by 2015. The Ministry of Land and Resources confirmed 107 billion cubic meters of new reserves of shale gas last year in Fuling.

Shale is an important source of natural gas. The nation's shale gas output is likely to hit 6.5 billion cubic meters next year, up from an estimated output between 1 billion and 1.5 billion cubic meters this year, vice director of the National Energy Administration Zhang Yuqing said earlier this month.