The General Office of the Guizhou Provincial People's Government has recently issued the Three-Year Action Plan for Increasing Unconventional Natural Gas Reserves and Production in Guizhou Province (2026-2028). Anchored in the strategic deployment of 'Precise Mining of Rich Ores,' the plan focuses on shale gas and coalbed methane (coal mine gas), systematically advancing the full-chain development of exploration, extraction, storage, transportation, and utilization. It aims to enhance the province's natural gas self-sufficiency, support the national energy security strategy, and contribute to building a new energy system in Guizhou.
Guizhou possesses notable advantages in unconventional natural gas resources, with shallow coalbed methane geological resources below 2,000 meters estimated at approximately 2.83 trillion cubic meters and shale gas geological resources at roughly 8.67 trillion cubic meters. Both total resources and individual category resources rank fourth nationally, laying a solid foundation for large-scale development. Addressing challenges such as complex geological conditions, a weak industrial base, and limited utilization channels, the province has set staged development targets through this three-year initiative: unconventional natural gas output exceeding 900 million cubic meters in 2026, surpassing 1.7 billion cubic meters in 2027, and exceeding 2.2 billion cubic meters by 2028 with a natural gas self-sufficiency rate above 40%. Looking ahead, the plan projects a self-sufficiency rate of 60% by 2030 and near-full natural gas self-reliance by 2035.
The action plan outlines 15 specific measures across six major areas, covering four key segments: exploration, development, storage and transportation, and utilization. It coordinates resource reserve expansion with production capacity release, tailoring industrial bases and key production zones to local conditions. The plan also optimizes mineral resource management, addresses inefficient use of mining rights, resolves the issue of fragmented and scattered mining rights, and revitalizes idle resources. Further efforts include deepening geological exploration to strengthen the foundation for deep oil and gas resource development, vigorously promoting combined coal and gas extraction to shift coal mine gas management from passive underground drainage to proactive surface pre-drainage—balancing safety production with capacity enhancement—and broadening resource utilization channels by advancing the province-wide integrated natural gas pipeline network, ensuring recovery and local consumption of scattered gas sources. Additionally, the plan emphasizes technical research breakthroughs through scientific project funding, open recruitment for key projects, and industry-academia-research collaboration to overcome exploration and development bottlenecks and accelerate the commercial application of research outcomes.
Complementing these efforts, the plan pairs comprehensive safeguards covering organizational coordination, resource guarantees, financial support, and production safety. It assigns clear responsible entities for each task, removes inter-departmental coordination barriers, strengthens closed-loop management across the industrial chain, and drives the effective implementation of all initiatives.
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