China's ambitious goal of replicating North America's shale revolution will change the dynamics of the global liquefied natural gas (LNG) market to the benefit of gas importers in the Arabian Gulf.

Last week China took a big step towards opening up its vast gas reserves with a deal struck between the Anglo-Dutch oil major Shell and the government-controlled China National Petroleum Company (CNPC).

"It's early days, but Chinese shale could be an enormous story," said Robin Mills, the head of consulting at Manaar Energy. "It strikes me as a place that would do shale well."

Shell has committed to investing US$1 billion (Dh3.67bn) a year into developing a shale gas block in the Sichuan basin.

China plans to increase the share of natural gas in its energy mix, and draw on its own resources to meet demand.