China's shale oil reserves are more geologically complex and expensive to develop than those in North America, where drillers have achieved large scale commercial extraction of shale reserves with the help of government financial support, Ma said in a statement.
Authorities should also increase financial support for scientific and technology research to raise shale oil output, he added.
China has invested heavily in developing shale oil and other capital intensive, technically challenging reserves to support domestic oil production as output from mature fields declines.
(Reporting by Andrew Hayley, Editing by Louise Heavens)
