///Open system nonisothermal pyrolysis experiments at a heating rate of 1 K/min were performed on immature coal samples (Ro=0.4%) from the Tarim Basin, NW China, and on their isolated macerals (vitrinite, exinite, fusinite and semifusinite) in order to determine the kinetics of gas generation (CH4 and N2). Assuming that the generation rate of CH4 and N2 was described by 25 single firstorder reactions with a single preexponential (Ao=1.0×1013 s-1), a discrete distribution of activation energies was computed by data processing for CH4 and N2. Based on the kinetic parameters derived from laboratory experiments, CH4 transformation ratios were calculated for geological heating rate of 5.3 K/Ma. Gas containing more than 80% of CH4 was formed under these conditions at temperatures in excess of 160℃ from coal, whereas the percentage of methane generation from vitrinite and exinite was higher than that from coal.