China's Daji coal-rock gas field, the country's largest coalbed methane (CBM) project, had seen its annual production capacity exceeding 4 billion cubic meters as of Thursday, marking a major step in securing domestic natural gas supply.
Coalbed methane is an unconventional natural gas resource adsorbed or freely existing in deep underground coal seams, typically buried at the depths of more than 1,500 meters, with broad prospects for exploration and development.
Located in north China's Shanxi Province, the Daji gas field is the country's first coalbed methane demonstration project.
Since the beginning of 2026, 16 new wells have been drilled at the field, adding annual production capacity of 250 million cubic meters and pushing daily gas production to over 11 million cubic meters, an increase of 32 percent year on year.
"Over the recent years, the Daji Gas Field has maintained strong production growth. In 2025, the field produced a total of 3.05 billion cubic meters of coalbed methane and now has an output capacity equivalent to 3 million tonnes of oil and gas. Since supplying gas for the winter heating season last year, the field has produced a cumulative 1.05 billion cubic meters of natural gas, setting a record high," said Chen Ming, head of Linfen gas production management area under PetroChina Coalbed Methane Company Limited.
Compared with conventional natural gas, coalbed methane is buried deeper and under more complex geological conditions, making extraction technically challenging and long regarded as a "forbidden zone" for oil and gas exploration.
In 2019, PetroChina, China's largest oil and gas producer, made technological breakthroughs, with the first coalbed methane well, Daji 3-7, obtaining industrial gas flow.
In December 2021, the Jishen 6-7 well produced more than 100,000 cubic meters of gas per day, becoming the country's first "breakthrough well" for efficient coalbed methane development.
"In recent years, technology has driven coalbed methane exploration into the fast lane of development. We have successfully developed multiple key core technologies, boosting rapid output growth. The second-phase capacity expansion project of the Daji Gas Field is now underway and is expected to add 1.5 billion cubic meters of annual production capacity," said Wang Weibin from a branch company of PetroChina Coalbed Methane Company Limited on gas exploration, development and construction.
The Daji Gas Field, the first coalbed methane field to achieve large-scale development in China, has an average burial depth of 2,130 meters and proven geological reserves of 400 billion cubic meters.
It currently has an annual production capacity of 4 billion cubic meters, accounting for more than 80 percent of the country's total coalbed methane output.
China's largest coalbed methane field reaches milestone output
China will give priority to expanding domestic demand this year, taking multiple measures to encourage people to consume, an official said Thursday in Beijing at a press conference on the interpretation of the government work report.
The government work report was submitted to the National People's Congress (NPC), the country's supreme organ of state power, for deliberation..
Shen Danyang, head of the government work report drafting team and director of the State Council Research Office, said China has for the first time proposed the implementation of an urban and rural residents' income growth plan.
Shen said a series of policy measures will be introduced to promote income increases for low-income groups, expand residents' property income, and improve salary and social security systems. The objective is to enable more residents to have fuller "pockets", thereby fundamentally strengthening their consumption capacity.
Meanwhile, efforts will be made to foster new growth points for consumption on the supply side, launch pilot projects of new consumption forms, models and scenarios, and cultivate consumption scenarios like culture and tourism, the automotive aftermarket and sports events, to better meet people's demands, he said.
Shen said the measures will extend beyond merely stimulating consumption, aiming instead to fully unleash the spending potential of the population.
"For instance, this year we will enhance safeguards in areas such as medical care, elderly support, childbirth and child-rearing, raise government subsidy standards for basic medical insurance, and develop inclusive childcare services. It is believed that these measures will further encourage ordinary citizens to feel more confident and willing to consume," said Shen.
Shen said China will further increase its support for offline physical retail, with a focused emphasis on subsidy measures. Priority will be given to key consumer durables with broad coverage and strong multiplier effects, such as automobiles, refrigerators, washing machines, and televisions, through trade-in programs for replacements with new items.
He said the trade-in policy will apply to more products this year, enabling more people to receive subsidies for new products.
"This year, a 100-billion-yuan special fund for promoting domestic demand through fiscal and financial coordination has been established. It is a very new policy this year. The optimized loan interest subsidy policies for business entities in service industry and personal consumption will expand the scope of support and raise the upper limit of subsidies, which will bring more consumers a greater sense of gain," said Shen.
To boost consumption and expand domestic demand, Shen said this year China will also break down barriers, remove obstacles, and further eliminate various restrictive measures on consumption, thereby smoothing the consumption cycle.
"We will adopt targeted, category-specific measures to address implicit barriers in the consumer market, and streamline the approval procedures for promotional activities. In select cities, restrictions on vehicle purchases will be further relaxed, and additional vehicle purchase quotas will be issued. Eligible street-front commercial premises will also be permitted to engage in outdoor business operations," he said.
China to take multiple measures to encourage consumption: official
