China's largest coalbed methane field hits production milestone

China's Daji gas field, the country's largest coalbed methane (CBM) project, has exceeded an annual production capacity of 2.5 billion cubic meters, marking a major step in securing domestic natural gas supply, China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) announced Saturday.

Situated in north China's Shanxi Province, the Daji gas field is a key national demonstration project for deep CBM extraction. Since its development, output has risen steadily, reaching 1.69 billion cubic meters in 2024.

This year, 37 new wells were brought online, boosting daily production to 6.8 million cubic meters, a 50-percent increase year on year.

"This year, we have made breakthroughs in ultra-long horizontal well drilling technology and large-scale volume fracturing tailored for coalbed methane. These advancements have improved drilling efficiency, reduced costs, and increased per-well production. The average daily output of newly commissioned wells now exceeds 60,000 cubic meters," said Wang Wei, manager of Exploration, Development and Construction Branch of CNPC Coalbed Methane Company.

Unlike conventional gas, CBM is trapped in deep coal seams, requiring specialized extraction methods. The Daji field, with an average depth of 2,130 meters and proven geological reserves of 300 billion cubic meters, is China's first large-scale CBM development project.

"Through integrated geological and engineering efforts, we have rapidly scaled up coalbed methane production from scratch to 2.5 billion cubic meters in just three years. Next, we will accelerate the construction of the country's first coalbed methane demonstration zone, aiming to reach an annual output of 3 billion cubic meters by the end of this year," said Chen Ming, executive deputy manager of Linfen Branch of CNPC Coalbed Methane Company.

China's largest coalbed methane field hits production milestone

Teams attending the 2026 humanoid robot half-marathon are racing to fine-tune every detail before hitting the course on Sunday.

As the world's first humanoid robot marathon, this year's event will see a record 112 teams taking part, including five international teams from countries including Germany, France and Brazil.

Co-hosted by the Beijing Municipal People's Government and China Media Group, the event covers two main categories – autonomous navigation and remote control – with autonomous navigation teams accounting for nearly 40 percent of the total.

One week ago, a full-scale test of the event has already been conducted in Beijing's E-Town Economic and Technological Development Area.

"Really impressive! When I see what they've done in the first marathon that happened last year and what we saw this year, I'm impressed by the advancements that have been made. Last year, some robots had some hard time to just stay standing, but now this year almost every robot is able to stand. And they all focus on performances and that's very exciting," said Etienne, a member of Paris-Saclay University Team.

The 21-kilometer race route covers more than 10 types of terrain including flat ground, slopes, curves, and narrow sections. It features 12 left turns and 10 right turns, including several near-90-degree curves, providing complex environment for robots to test their adaptation and decision-making capabilities.

"This event requires robots to achieve such high mobility autonomously on the course, which poses a significant test of their agility. Even for humans, executing sharp turns under such complex conditions is quite challenging. For robots, this setup further increases the technical difficulty and challenge," said Zhao Mingguo, a researcher at the Department of Automation of Tsinghua University.

Humanoid robots gear up for Beijing half-marathon