It will be a long time before China could commercialize its shale gas development in a large way, said David Eyton, group head of research and technology at U.K. oil giant BP PLC (BP) in Beijing Friday, state-run news agency Xinhua reports.

China's shale gas reserves' geological structure is totally different than that of the U.S. and China needs to build more infrastructure facility to transport the shale gas once explored. Also it needs more policy support including a pricing mechanism for shale gas, Mr. Eyton was quoted by Xinhua as saying.

"BP has rich exploring experience in unconventional resources in the Northern American market and the company wishes to join along with China in future development in shale gas," Mr. Eyton said, adding that the company is currently in talks with Chinese companies.

Yet moving ahead "there will be many uncertainties" given that China's shale gas development is in its initial stage and the company needs to do more research on the geological conditions of China's shale gas reserves, according to Mr. Eyton.

In January 2010, BP teamed up with a subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corp. to explore shale gas in China's southwest Guizhou Province.