Shanxi extracts record amount of coalbed methane

This photo taken on May 27, 2023 shows machinery in operation at a coalbed methane mining base in Qinshui County, north China's Shanxi Province.(Xinhua/Wang Feihang)

TAIYUAN, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) -- China's coal-rich province of Shanxi extracted 7.16 billion cubic meters of coalbed methane in the first eight months of 2023, a record high for the January-August period, according to the provincial statistics bureau.

Shanxi's coalbed methane output accounted for about 81.8 percent of the country's total in the first eight months this year.

Utilizing coalbed methane, a byproduct of coal, can reduce mining risks, cut greenhouse gas emissions and ease gas shortages.

Shanxi is one of several Chinese regions with abundant coalbed methane resources. It houses about a third of China's estimated reserves of coalbed methane. By the end of 2022, the province's proven coalbed methane reserves had surpassed 760 billion cubic meters.

Shanxi has trialed a coal mine gas-management model that puts gas mining before coal mining and integrates the mining of gas and coal, providing a new model for safe production in China's coal mines with high gas concentrations.