Nearly 100 companies have participated in the second round of bidding for the exploration of shale gas blocks in China, including many listed companies, 21cbh.com reported on Thursday.

Private companies accounted for one-third of all the bidders and will have a fair chance to compete against State-owned or central enterprises, said Zhang Dawei, director of the mineral resources and reserves evaluation center at the Ministry of Land and Resources.

The second round started on Sept 10, covering an area of about 20,000 square kilometers with 20 shale gas blocks in seven provinces and one municipality.

Compared with the first round in 2011, this time the scale of the bidding has increased substantially.

Only six companies participated in the first round, but the second round attracted nearly 100 companies so far, including almost all energy-related central enterprises and many large State-owned energy companies.

The number of companies applying for the second round is far more than previously estimated based on a previous survey, said Zhang.

The competition will be fierce, with companies in fields such as oil, electricity, coal, investments, real estate, machinery and equipment manufacturing all trying to get a piece of the action.

Shale gas, a kind of unconventional gas, is one of the key new energies expected to be used by China to reduce its reliance on crude oil imports.

Insiders from the Ministry of Land and Resources said that authorities are planning support measures for shale gas development, including establishing a shale gas resource management system.