China's largest coal seam gas field annual production capacity breaks through 4 billion cubic meters

Bright Daily, Beijing, March 16 — On March 16, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) announced that China’s largest coalbed methane field, the Daji Gas Field operated by CNPC, has surpassed an annual production capacity of 4 billion cubic meters, accounting for more than three-quarters of the country’s total coalbed methane output, becoming an important resource for natural gas growth in China.

Coalbed methane is an unconventional natural gas resource adsorbed or free within deep underground coal seams, typically buried at depths exceeding 1,500 meters, with broad prospects for exploration and development. Research results from CNPC’s Coalbed Methane Key Laboratory show that China’s coalbed methane geological resources amount to 50 trillion cubic meters, with the Ordos Basin containing over 25 trillion cubic meters. The country’s first coalbed methane demonstration zone—the Daji Gas Field—is located on the eastern edge of the Ordos Basin in southwestern Shanxi Province. Since the beginning of this year, CNPC’s Coalbed Methane Company has drilled 16 new wells and added a capacity of 250 million cubic meters, pushing the daily gas production of the field beyond 11 million cubic meters, a 32% increase year-on-year.

Compared to conventional natural gas, coalbed methane is buried deeper with more complex geological conditions, making extraction technically challenging. CNPC’s Coalbed Methane Company continues to deepen theoretical innovations in exploration and development, establishing a comprehensive theory system for coalbed methane enrichment, and accurately revealing the dual-phase existence law of gas—adsorbed and free—in deep coal seams. By leveraging technological innovation as a driving force, the company actively accelerates and improves coalbed methane development, successfully developing key core technologies that strongly support large-scale, efficient development of coalbed methane. In 2019, the first Daji 3-7 well produced industrial gas flows. In December 2021, the Jishen 6-7 well exceeded 100,000 cubic meters per day, becoming China’s first high-efficiency development breakthrough well for coalbed methane. From 2023 to 2025, the Daji Gas Field is expected to achieve a stepwise rapid increase in coalbed methane production within just three years, maintaining its leading position in China’s coalbed methane industry. Currently, the Phase II capacity expansion project of the Daji Gas Field is progressing steadily; once completed, it will add an annual capacity of 1.5 billion cubic meters. (Reporter: Zhang Yi)

Source: Guangming Online — “Guangming Daily”