IFC invests in cleaner fuel technology in China

The International Finance Corp. (IFC) said it was investing US$15 million in a U.S.-based company that is trying to speed commercial development of cleaner-burning methane gas in China. The IFC is a private arm of the World Bank that promotes development in emerging-market economies. It is investing in Far East Energy Corp., a Houston-based company that is working on coalbed methane exploration and development, through a partnership with a state-owned Chinese company. There are potentially huge stores of methane, which produces fewer carbon emissions than coal or oil and pollutes less, beneath China’s coal beds, which is largely untapped in Asia. Natalie Halich, a senior investment officer at the IFC, said China is estimated to have the third largest reserves of coal-bed methane in the world, behind only Russia and Canada. Far East Energy Corp. will use the funds provided by the IFC to explore and develop 5,000 square kilometers of deposits in Shanxi and Yunnan provinces in central and southeastern China. Far East Energy is recognized as an expert in the field, but existing technology will have to be tailored to the specific geological conditions that it finds in the Chinese coal beds. (August 29, 2007)