China Hikes Subsidy for CBM Development

China’s State Council on Monday released guidelines to facilitate the nation’s extraction and utilization of coal bed methane (CBM), specifying that the subsidy for CBM development will be further raised and pricing for CBM will become more market-oriented, China Scope Financial reported.

More efforts will be made to promote mergers and acquisitions of coal producers amid industrial restructuring, with additional financial incentives to be granted to accelerate the closure of high gas mines and small coalmines with high coal and gas outburst risks, the report said.

As per the guidelines, state would introduce more favourable value-added tax (VAT) policies to promote the comprehensive utilization of coal resources and to further encourage power generation from CBM.

In addition, the central government confirmed that it will increase support for CBM research and development and will further step up the training of CBM specialists.