PetroChina Sets Up Alternative Energy Unit (Mostly Coal-Bed CH4 At First)

[hatrack]

BEIJING - PetroChina China's top oil and gas firm, has set up a unit to develop alternative fuels to secure new energy sources amid high crude oil prices and dwindling domestic reserves, company officials said on Friday.

An office of 10 people under PetroChina's exploration and production arm would focus on coalbed methane, oil shale and biofuels, before extending into renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power in the longer run, they said. "The business will be extremely small. We will still highlight our main business, which has been keeping us very busy," spokesperson Cao Zhengyan said.

But high global crude prices and a growing shortage of oil and gas in the world's second-largest energy user have led Chinese state oil giants to look more closely at unconventional fuels.

PetroChina had quietly laid groundwork for coalbed methane (CMB), a gas extracted from coal mines, having sunk 200 exploration wells in northern China's Shanxi province this year, a second company official said.

EDIT

http://www.planetark.org/dailynewsstory.cfm/newsid/38044/story.htm

[eppur_se_muova]

1. Good for them. China seems to be moving in the right direction ...

on some issues.