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China United Coalbed Methane Corporation has signed a cooperative contract with Canadian Ivan Ventures Incorporation to join hands in the exploitation of coalbed methane in eastern China.

This is the fourth contract that the corporation has signed with foreign companies in recent four months, Saturday's Shanghai Securities News cited an official of the corporation, surnamed Liu as saying.

According to him, the corporation has 26 contracts for coalbed methane exploitation with foreign companies, including the United States' Chevron and other foreign companies from Britain and Canada.

The corporation will work together with these firms on the exploration, mining, processing and sale of methane, said the official, adding that the exploiting areas involve northern China, northwestern China and northeast China.

Foreign firms are required to shoulder the risk and investment in the exploration phase of the contract. The two sides will share the profits in accordance with the investment proportion.

Liu said the total sum of contracts on coalbed methane exploitation in China has amounted to 1.2 billion yuan, noting that it is boosted by the government's supporting policies and prospects of this sector.

China has set out a series of preferential policies for foreign investment to enter in the methane-exploiting sector, including tax rebates.

The methane yield of the China United Coalbed Methane Corporation stands at 20 million cubic meters in 2005, which is expected to hit 150 million this year, he said.

In 2005, there were 330 coalbed methane wells more than the total of the previous decade and accounting for 56 percent of China's overall total.

Insiders said the tapping of coalbed methane will help make up the deficiency of the country's clean energy.

Following Russia and Canada, China is listed as the third largest country of coalbed methane deposits, with a reserve of 36,810 billion cubic meters, 60 percent of which is subject to exploitation.