Beijing, November 24. Recently, there have been frequent good news in the exploration and development of a new type of unconventional natural gas resource named "coal rock gas", which has become a new highlight of China's natural gas production increase. The reporter learned from the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development of PetroChina that as of the end of October 2025, the cumulative proven geological reserves of coal rock gas in China have exceeded 700 billion cubic meters.

Against the backdrop of China's "dual carbon" goals and the acceleration of energy transformation, ensuring the stable increase of natural gas production has become the core concern of the industry. In March 2025, the PetroChina delegation officially released the concept and geological theory of "coal rock gas" to the world at the 43rd "Cambridge Energy Week". What exactly is coal rock gas? How is it different from the well - known coalbed methane?

"The discovery of 'coal rock gas' stems from a challenge to the forbidden zone of traditional geological theory," said Zou Caineng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the chief expert of the National High - end Think Tank of China National Petroleum Corporation. The traditional coalbed methane theory holds that when the burial depth of coal seams exceeds 1,500 meters, the increase in formation temperature will lead to a decrease in the content of adsorbed gas. Coupled with the high development cost, it has long been regarded as a "development forbidden zone". However, Chinese exploration experts found that these deep coal rock sections often show good natural gas indications when drilling conventional oil and gas and tight oil and gas.

Zou Caineng further explained that traditional coalbed methane is mainly in the "adsorbed" state, while coal rock gas is "a co - existence of free state and adsorbed state", and has "a high content of free gas", showing a "cross - border" characteristic: its occurrence characteristics are close to those of shale gas, and its development method is similar to that of shale gas and tight gas. In view of this difference, in March 2025, the research team of the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development of PetroChina officially proposed the new concept of "coal rock gas" according to the needs of exploration and development practice.

Behind this major theoretical innovation is the support of the more macroscopic "total petroleum system" theory. The traditional petroleum geology theory has limitations in explaining unconventional oil and gas without clear boundaries. Jia Chengzao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, proposed the "total petroleum system" theory in 2014, unifying conventional and unconventional oil and gas resources into a complete system from a unified perspective. Under this framework, scientists from the Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration and Development of PetroChina proposed a new type of total petroleum system with coal - bearing strata as the core, namely the "coal - measure total petroleum system". In this system, combinations of various gas reservoirs such as coal rock gas, coalbed methane, tight gas, and shale gas are often formed symbiotically. This theory also scientifically explains the typical production process of coal rock gas, which is "gas seen immediately after well - opening - desorption taking over in the middle and later stages".

The latest research results of the Key Laboratory of Coal Rock Gas of PetroChina show that the geological resources of coal rock gas in China can reach more than 50 trillion cubic meters. The resources in the Ordos Basin exceed 25 trillion cubic meters, and basins such as Sichuan, Tarim, Junggar, Bohai Bay, and Turpan - Hami all have the resource basis for efficient exploration and development.

At present, the exploration and development of coal rock gas in China has shown a trend of "breakthroughs at multiple points and rapid growth". Based on the concept of "overall exploration of coal rock as a reservoir", PetroChina has achieved exploration breakthroughs in basins such as Ordos and Junggar. In the Ordos Basin, PetroChina has proven three giant gas fields with a reserve of over 100 billion cubic meters each, with the geological reserves exceeding 500 billion cubic meters, and has built the first million - ton - class deep - layer coal rock gas field, the Daji Coal Rock Gas Field.

"China's coal rock gas production reached 2.7 billion cubic meters in 2024. It is expected that the production in 2025 will exceed 4 billion cubic meters. Multiple coal rock gas fields with a capacity equivalent to one million tons of oil equivalent are being planned and constructed. By 2035, China is expected to build a coal rock gas production capacity of more than 30 billion cubic meters," said Zou Caineng. With the progress of the theory and technology of coal rock hydrocarbon generation and reservoir formation, more coal rock oil and gas reservoirs rich in condensate oil and gas may be discovered in the future, which is of great significance for ensuring national energy security and achieving the "dual carbon" goals.

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