Coalbed methane opens up a new area for natural gas growth; proven geological reserves nationwide exceed 700 billion cubic meters

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Recently, there have been frequent positive developments in the exploration and development of a new type of unconventional natural gas resource known as \"coalbed methane,\" which has become a new highlight for increasing China’s natural gas production. Data provided by China National Petroleum Corporation on the 13th show that as of the end of October 2025, the total proven geological reserves of coalbed methane across the country had exceeded 700 billion cubic meters. In March 2025, a Chinese petroleum delegation officially introduced the concept and geological theory of \"coalbed methane\" to the world at the 43rd Cambridge Energy Week. What exactly is coalbed methane? What is the difference between it and the coalbed methane that is well-known to people? According to a responsible official from the China National Petroleum Exploration and Development Research Institute, traditional coalbed methane exists mainly in an \"adsorbed\" state, whereas coalbed gas exists in both \"free state and adsorbed state,\" with a \"high content of free gas.\" It exhibits cross-sectoral characteristics: its occurrence features are similar to those of shale gas, while its development methods are akin to those of shale gas and tight gas. Given this significant difference, a research team from the China National Petroleum Exploration and Development Research Institute formally proposed the entirely new concept of \"Coal-rock Gas\" (CRG) in line with the needs of exploration and development practices. Behind this significant theoretical innovation is the support of a more macroscopic \"total oil and gas system\" theory. Traditional petroleum geology theories have limitations in explaining unconventional hydrocarbons without clear boundaries. Jia Chengzao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, proposed the \"total oil and gas system\" theory in 2014, which uses a unified perspective to incorporate conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources into a single comprehensive system. Within this framework, scientists from the China National Petroleum Exploration and Development Research Institute proposed a new type of integrated oil and gas system centered on coal-bearing strata, namely the “coal measure integrated oil and gas system”. Within this system, various types of gas reservoirs such as coal-rock gas, coalbed methane, tight gas, and shale gas often form in symbiosis. This theory also scientifically explains the typical production pattern of coalbed methane, characterized by immediate gas production upon well completion, followed by desorption processes in the middle and later stages. In the pursuit of energy exploration, coal and shale gas exploration and development in our country have shown a positive trend of \"multiple breakthroughs and rapid growth\". According to the latest research findings from the Key Laboratory of Petroleum, Coal and Shale Gas in China, China’s geological resources of coal and shale gas could amount to 50 trillion cubic meters, representing a \"new reservoir\" on the order of tens of trillion cubic meters. Among them, the resource volume in the Ordos Basin exceeds 25 trillion cubic meters, while basins such as Sichuan, Tarim, Junggar, the Bohai Bay, and Tuha all possess a solid resource foundation for efficient exploration and development. The reporter learned from CNPC that China has achieved significant results in the exploration of coalbed methane in the Ordos Basin. Not only have three large gas fields with reserves of over 100 billion cubic meters been discovered, bringing the total geological reserves to over 500 billion cubic meters, but the first deep-sea coalbed methane field with reserves of 1 million tons has also been developed – the Dajiji coalbed methane field. “In 2024, the national production of coal and shale gas reached 2.7 billion cubic meters, and it is expected that this figure will exceed 4 billion cubic meters by 2025. At the current pace of development, China is expected to achieve a coal and shale gas production capacity of over 30 billion cubic meters by 2035. ”A responsible official from the China National Petroleum Exploration and Development Research Institute said that with technological advancements, more coal-rock oil and gas reservoirs rich in condensate oil and gas may be discovered in the future, providing additional safeguards for energy security.