FILE - In this Nov. 4, 2015 file photo, a Chinese flag moves in the breeze as a loader moves coal ata coal mine near Ordos in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Chinese authorities have commandeered supplies of natural gas to heat homes, disrupting supplies to industry, after efforts to clear smog-choked air by banning coal use led to energy shortages in frigid weather in December 2017. The prognosis for the U.S. coal sector may not be positive.
The International Energy Agency is predicting a 3% decline in coal consumption going forward. In fact, China’s ownreported that it will close about 8,600 megawatts of coal capacity by year-end, which is equal to about 1% of its energy mix. Coal makes up about 59% of China’s electricity portfolio, a bit less than in previous years. And that China’s coal use will fall to 35% in 2040, although it will remain the world’s biggest coal user at that time.
“Natural gas production has recently grown in China,” the administration says, “largely because of increased development in low-permeability formations in the form of tight gas, shale gas, and to a lesser extent, coalbed methane.”