On Aug. 3, China United Coalbed Methane Co. Ltd. and China Liansheng Investment Company held the contract signing ceremony for purchase and sales of CBM in the Qinshui Basin. CNPC is one of the shareholders of China United Coalbed Methane Company.

Under the contract, two CBM liquefaction production lines with a daily capacity of 500,000 m3 will be completed by the end of 2007 and put into operation in January 2008. When finished, the project will have an annual liquefied CBM productivity of 150,000 tons. An annual sale of 200 million m3 of CBM can be secured.

Over the past years, the effort to develop coalbed methane in the Qishui Basin has continued to be strengthened. It is estimated that its capacity can reach 400 million m3 by the end of this year.