(Yahoo, Sep 14, 2006) - China United Coalbed Methane Corp. Ltd., the country's major coalbed methane (CBM) developer, plans to more than triple its production capacity this year, amid a national drive to boost alternative fuels, the China Daily said on Thursday.
The state-run firm aimed to drill 250 wells in the next three months, on top of nearly 100 wells sunk so far this year, the newspaper quoted company president Sun Maoyuan.

These stepped-up drillings would boost the firm's CBM production capacity to 250 million cubic metres by the end of the year from last year's 70 million cu.m., the paper said.

Top Chinese oil and gas firm PetroChina , which owns 50 percent of the firm, recently set up an alternative fuel department, with a focus to develop CBM, an unconventional gas found in coal mines which can be used to fuel power plants or produce chemicals.

China boasts a CBM reserve of 36 trillion cubic metres, the third-largest in the world after Russia and Canada, the report said. Most of these gas are found in northern Shanxi province, the country's largest coal-producing region.

Beijing plans to boost CBM usage to 8 billion cubic metres by 2010 from around 1 bcm last year, to help meet surging fuel demand amid high oil prices.       

For now CBM accounts for only a fraction of China's natural gas output.
Source:Yahoo
tag:China energy coal