China, the world's fourth-largest natural gas consuming country, is stepping up efforts to boost its shale gas output, offering more favorable policies and a sound business environment to shale gas developers, a senior industry official said on Tuesday.

"We will continue to work closely with other departments to reduce problems regarding to government policies and other regulations reflected in the development of shale gas, and create a better environment for shale gas producers," Zhang Yuqing, deputy head of the National Energy Administration, said.

Zhang also addressed the important role shale gas plays in reducing reliance on dirty coal and cutting pollution. "Based on what we have achieved now in the shale gas sector, we are very confident to reach our target of shale gas output by 2015," he said.

China's daily output of shale gas already exceeds 2 million cubic meters and its commercialized shale gas production has reached 143 million cu m, according to NEA.

The shale gas project of the country's largest refiner, Sinopec Co, in the Chongqing-Fuling area is expected to reach 3.2 billion cu m, a figure almost double its previous target.

According to China's industrial plan for the shale gas sector, it has set an ambitious target to boost its annual shale gas output to 6.5 billion cu m by 2015 with a proven reserve of 1 trillion cu m.