China Petroleum and Chemical Corp (Sinopec) said on Monday that it had achieved "significant breakthroughs" in the exploration and development of a shale gas block in Chongqing, a municipality in southwestern China.

Those advances will help China realize commercial development of shale gas sooner than expected, it said.

The Fuling field in the southwestern municipality, the nation's first large-scale shale gas field, has reserves of 2.1 trillion cubic meters, the company said.