Shanxi Province has significantly ramped up its efforts to increase production and supply of unconventional natural gas this year, according to information released on July 21. In the first half of the year, the province's total output of unconventional natural gas reached 10.05 billion cubic meters, marking a 12.4% year-on-year increase and setting a new historical record for the same period.

Unconventional natural gas refers to resources with significantly different underground occurrence states and accumulation modes compared to conventional natural gas reservoirs, including shale gas, tight sandstone gas, and coalbed methane.

This summer, at the Daji coalbed methane field in Shanxi, a 100-day labor competition aimed at boosting production is in a critical phase. Rows of extraction equipment operate continuously, drawing coalbed methane from deep underground. After dehydration and pressurization, the gas is transported to local end-users and the main West-East Gas Pipeline network. Since the beginning of the year, 16 new wells have been drilled at the Daji field, adding 250 million cubic meters of new production capacity, which has helped push the field's daily output above 11 million cubic meters.

Technological Advances Drive Industry Transformation

In recent years, the successful application of key technologies has brought transformative changes to Shanxi's unconventional gas industry. The province has now established a three-tier technological innovation platform system at the national, provincial, and enterprise levels. Technological innovations have been achieved in drilling, fracturing, and extraction processes, while successful demonstration applications have been made for commercial development of deep coalbed methane and integrated coal mining and gas extraction models.

Infrastructure Expansion and Resource Development

Concurrently, Shanxi has continued to promote the efficient development of unconventional gas resources across different geological layers and depths. The province is accelerating the interconnection of its pipeline networks. It has already built six major gas fields with an annual output of 1 billion cubic meters each. The total length of long-distance natural gas transmission pipelines has reached 9,477 kilometers, covering nearly all counties in the province and significantly improving the convenience of gas access for residents.

It is reported that Shanxi's total estimated unconventional natural gas resources amount to approximately 20 trillion cubic meters, accounting for about 8% of China's total estimated natural gas resources. In 2025, Shanxi's unconventional natural gas production reached 18.23 billion cubic meters, a year-on-year increase of 8.9%, providing crucial support for national energy security.