China conducts second methane hydrate test in the South China Sea - CCTV

BEIJING, March 26 (Reuters) - China extracted 861,400 cubic metres of natural gas from methane hydrate, known as "flammable ice", during an one-month trial production in the South China Sea, state television reported on Thursday, citing the land and resources ministry.

This production follows China's first experimental gas extraction from methane hydrate in 2017, during which a total of 309,000 cubic metres of natural gas was produced in a 60-day period.

Methane hydrate has been identified as a potential new gas source for China and the South China Sea is believed to contain some of the world's most promising deposits.

The Ministry of Land and Resources said the second exploitation test has successfully brought gas extraction to the stage of "trial production" from "experimental production", which is considered a crucial step in the industrialisation of methane hydrate.

The ministry also said the latest test adopted a horizontal well drilling technique, the first time it has been used in methane hydrate extraction.

(Reporting by Muyu Xu and Shivani Singh; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)