Peng Yimin, mayor of Fushun, said that in addition to the traditional coal mining industry, the city will highlight the exploitation of its rich oil shale and coalbed methane resources to cultivate new economic growth points.

Oil shale, a kind of fine-grained sedimentary rock containing large amounts of organic matter from which shale oil and combustion gas are extracted, is to present opportunities for supplying some of the fossil energy needs of the world in the years ahead with the continuing decline of petroleum supplies. Coalbed methane, which is a new source of natural gas mainly composed of methane, serves as a kind of clean fuel and chemical industry material.

The city has 3.5 billion tons of oil shale and 8.9 billion cubic meters of coalbed methane and is one of the few cities in China involved in developing an oil shale industry.

Peng said the city will spare no efforts to construct a 100 megawatts oil shale thermal power plant and a plant to make bricks out of shale, and to expand an oil shale refinery plant and promote the exploitation of coalbed methane resources in the coming years.

"We are eager to attract more overseas funds, technology and equipment to accelerate the pace of industrial transition," said Peng.

He said the city is attractive for investors with its rich natural resources, cheap labour force, a great many vacant workshops and an extended transportation network.

Dozens of coal mining and oil shale mining projects and the comprehensive exploitation of coalbed methane have been listed for investment this year.

The city will push the opening-up of its Coal Mining Bureau, which is a large coal mining enterprise and is one of the few oil shale refineries across the country.

The bureau is currently negotiating with companies from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Germany, Canada, Brazil, Japan, South Korea and Australia to set up cooperative ventures, according to Liu Shengqiang, vice-director of the bureau.

In addition, the bureau will also try to seek support from banks and is expected to go listed this year to raise more funds.

Fushun, a traditional industrial city in Northeast China, is famous for its coal mining industry. More than 800 million tons of raw coal were extracted over the past century. However, of the remaining 700 million tons of coal reserves, only about 100 million are exploitable.

(China Daily 06/04/2001)