Natural gas production saw a 5.7 percent year-on-year increase to reach 248.8 billion cubic meters, continuing an eight-year streak of production growth exceeding 10 billion cubic meters annually, said the institute.

Hu Jianwu, deputy director-general of the National Energy Administration's oil and gas department, said China had been accelerating efforts to ramp up oil and gas exploration and development efforts throughout last year, driven by technological innovation and a focus on low-carbon transformation.

As China's oil and gas majors had also been increasing exploration and development efforts throughout last year, focusing on increasing reserves and improving extraction efficiency, 2024 also saw a series of breakthroughs in deep water and unconventional oil and gas exploration, with major new discoveries made in Bohai Bay, Ordos Basin and Tarim Basin, said the administration.

Chinese oil and gas companies are intensifying exploration and development efforts to boost reserves and enhance efficiency, including a concerted effort to tap into unconventional gas resources like coal bed methane, and implement technologies that reduce emissions from fossil fuel operations.

CBM is a new type of unconventional natural resource and is widely distributed across coal-rich basins in China, such as those in Ordos in Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Junggar Basin in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Sichuan province, with estimated reserves exceeding 40 trillion cubic meters.

However, due to unclear reservoir formation mechanisms and high extraction difficulty — together with other challenges including low extraction efficiency, insufficient infrastructure and limited market access — further exploration and development possibilities have been long hindered.

Zhang Qingsheng, executive director of Sinopec Zhongyuan Oilfield under China Petroleum and Chemical Corp, also known as Sinopec, emphasized the strategic importance of developing CBM resources in China.

Zhang highlighted CBM's potential to strengthen energy security and promote cleaner energy use, and underscored the wider industry's role in decarbonization.