December 02, 2008

GAIL and Arrow may join Chinese coal bed methane project

According to Mr Liu Ming Hui MD of China Gas Holdings Ltd GAIL India Ltd and Australia's Arrow Energy may join coal bed methane projects in China.

He said "GAIL is one of our important shareholders and Arrow has experience in CBM, so we would like to join with them. He added that China Gas is holding talks with GAIL for coal bed methane exploration and will decide on an equity stake in the venture soon.

Mr Liu said the company will decide on the volume of imports from Oman by the second half of the year. He said the company may sell as much as 2 million tonnes of LPG from a domestic trading company it acquired. China Gas bought a 53% stake in Zhejiang Zhongyou Hua Dian Energy Co last month.

Mr Liu said China Gas owns 11 LPG terminals, a 15,000 kilometer pipeline network and 3.2 million household customers.

China Gas Holdings Ltd has also an equal joint venture with Oman Oil to ship natural gas to China from the Middle East.