CUCBM plans to build long-distance CBM pipeline
Shanghai. May 28. INTERFAX-CHINA - China United Coalbed Methane Co. Ltd. (CUCBM), a major Chinese coalbed methane (CBM) developer, is planning to build a pipeline to expand its operations into China's central regions, Chinese media reported on May 27.
According to 21st Century Economic Herald, CUCBM plans to build a long-distance pipeline that will run from its primary CMB production bases in Shanxi Province's Qinshui Basin through four central provinces to Jiangxi Province.
Zhang Zhenghe, deputy director of CUCBM's Operations Department, told the paper that the 1,000-kilometer pipeline will have an annual transmission capacity of 4 billion cubic meters.
According to Zhang, the planning stages of the project will be finished this year, with construction slated to begin in 2012. The company may extend the pipeline to southwestern and southeastern regions, but Zhang declined to provide further details about the project when contacted by Interfax on May 28.
Up until 2008, CUCBM held exclusive rights to cooperate with foreign companies in CBM fields. Those rights were voided by the central government when it shifted its focus to promoting domestic development of the CBM sector.
Currently, China only has one trans-regional CBM pipeline, which stretches from Shanxi Province to Henan Province. The pipeline has an annual transmission capacity of 2 billion cubic meters and will commence operations this July.
CNPC also has an operational CBM transmission pipeline within Shanxi that spans from the Qinshui Basin to the first phase of the West-East Gas Pipeline (WEP I).
-TW