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Gas Production from Coal Seam Gas/Deep Coal Seam Gas Reservoirs

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "H3: Fossil".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 November 2022) | Viewed by 13279

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Australian School of Petroleum and Energy Resources, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
Interests: unconventional resources (coalbed methane/coal seam gas reservoirs); production data analysis; rate transient analysis; drilling engineering; drilling fluid; Underground Hydrogen Storage; well bore decommissioning

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Assistant Guest Editor
State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, China
Interests: coal seam gas, reservoir engineering, coal fine migration, cross-formational flow in coal seam gas reservoirs

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural gas plays a pivotal role in transitioning into a lower carbon economy. Coal seams gas, also knowns as coalbed methane, is extracted from underground coal seams. Production forecasting, reserve estimation, history matching and simulations are complicated for coal seam gas reservoirs. In particular, relative permeability implications, heterogeneity, matrix shrinkage, in situ stresses and geomechanical effects are important factors that require further strong research. In addition, natural gas production and carbon dioxide sequestration in deep coal seams (depth >2000 m) opens new avenues for research in fluid flow modelling, hydraulic fracturing and gas sorption. This Special Issue aims to collect original research or review articles on coal seam gas/deep coal seam gas reservoirs from both a fundamental and an applied point of view. Reservoir engineering, geomechanics, reservoir simulation, production data analysis and history matching and related topics will be considered.

Dr. Alireza Salmachi
Dr. Suyang Zhu
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • coalbed methane
  • coal seam gas
  • deep coal
  • reservoir engineering
  • production data analysis
  • rate transient analysis
  • geomechanics
  • reservoir simulation
  • well completion and stimulation

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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13 pages, 2613 KiB  
Article
A Numerical Evaluation of Coal Seam Permeability Derived from Borehole Gas Flow Rate
by Qingdong Qu, Jingyu Shi and Andy Wilkins
Energies 2022, 15(10), 3828; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15103828 - 23 May 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1793
Abstract
Coal seam permeability is a critical factor in coal seam gas extraction and gas outburst control. In Australian coal mines, coal seam permeability is normally estimated using a packer test or drill stem test. In contrast, Chinese coal mines generally estimate a parameter [...] Read more.
Coal seam permeability is a critical factor in coal seam gas extraction and gas outburst control. In Australian coal mines, coal seam permeability is normally estimated using a packer test or drill stem test. In contrast, Chinese coal mines generally estimate a parameter called the “gas conductivity coefficient” by measuring natural gas flow rates from an underground borehole drilled through a coal seam. With this method, it has been frequently reported that the permeability of many Chinese coal seams is between 0.0001 mD and 0.01 mD, which is extremely low compared to that of Australian coal seams (1–100 mD). It is therefore natural to wonder how closely the Chinese method measures permeability. Resolving this question will allow knowledge and experience in outburst management to be shared between Australian and Chinese coal mines. This question is investigated by the numerical modelling of gas desorption and flow through a seam of known permeability and by using the model’s borehole gas flow rate to estimate the permeability using the Chinese method. A total of 126 simulations were run with various input reservoir parameters. The results suggest that the Chinese method estimates permeability at an accuracy of 85% to 100%, which is adequate for mine pre-drainage design and outburst control. For the high diffusion rate (e.g., high gas content and short desorption time) and low Darcy flow rates (e.g., low permeability), these errors are reduced. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Production from Coal Seam Gas/Deep Coal Seam Gas Reservoirs)
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24 pages, 6700 KiB  
Article
Flowing Material Balance and Rate-Transient Analysis of Horizontal Wells in Under-Saturated Coal Seam Gas Reservoirs: A Case Study from the Qinshui Basin, China
by Suyang Zhu and Alireza Salmachi
Energies 2021, 14(16), 4887; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14164887 - 10 Aug 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2296
Abstract
Two phase flow and horizontal well completion pose additional challenges for rate-transient analysis (RTA) techniques in under-saturated coal seam gas (CSG) reservoirs. To better obtain reservoir parameters, a practical workflow for the two phase RTA technique is presented to extract reservoir information by [...] Read more.
Two phase flow and horizontal well completion pose additional challenges for rate-transient analysis (RTA) techniques in under-saturated coal seam gas (CSG) reservoirs. To better obtain reservoir parameters, a practical workflow for the two phase RTA technique is presented to extract reservoir information by the analysis of production data of a horizontal well in an under-saturated CSG reservoir. This workflow includes a flowing material balance (FMB) technique and an improved form of two phase (water + gas) RTA. At production stage of a horizontal well in under-saturated CSG reservoirs, a FMB technique was developed to extract original water in-place (OWIP) and horizontal permeability. This FMB technique involves the application of an appropriate productivity equation representing the relative position of the horizontal well in the drainage area. Then, two phase (water + gas) RTA of a horizontal well was also investigated by introducing the concept of the area of influence (AI), which enables the calculation of the water saturation during the transient formation linear flow. Finally, simulation and field examples are presented to validate and demonstrate the application of the proposed techniques. Simulation results indicate that the proposed FMB technique accurately predicts OWIP and coal permeability when an appropriate productivity equation is selected. The field application of the proposed methods is demonstrated by analysis of production data of a horizontal CSG well in the Qinshui Basin, China. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Production from Coal Seam Gas/Deep Coal Seam Gas Reservoirs)
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15 pages, 3218 KiB  
Article
Numerical Simulation Research on Improvement Effect of Ultrasonic Waves on Seepage Characteristics of Coalbed Methane Reservoir
by Xin Li, Jie Zhang, Rongxin Li, Qi Qi, Yundong Zheng, Cuinan Li, Ben Li, Changjun Wu, Tianyu Hong, Yao Wang, Xiaoxiao Du, Zaipeng Zhao and Xu Liu
Energies 2021, 14(15), 4605; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14154605 - 29 Jul 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 1850
Abstract
The matrix pores of a coalbed methane (CBM) reservoir are mostly nanoscale pores, with tiny pore throats and poor connectivity, which belong to the category of low–permeability gas reservoirs. The matrix particles and organic pore surfaces adsorb a large amount of CBM. These [...] Read more.
The matrix pores of a coalbed methane (CBM) reservoir are mostly nanoscale pores, with tiny pore throats and poor connectivity, which belong to the category of low–permeability gas reservoirs. The matrix particles and organic pore surfaces adsorb a large amount of CBM. These problems are the main reasons that limit the increase in CBM production. At present, the primary measure to increase CBM production is hydraulic fracturing. However, due to the technical characteristics and geological conditions of CBM reservoirs, applying this technology to CBM exploitation still has some key issues that need to be resolved. Therefore, it is essential to develop a new technology that can effectively increase the production of CBM. This paper proposed a method that uses ultrasonic waves to improve the seepage characteristics of CBM reservoir and theoretically verifies the feasibility of this idea using numerical simulation. In this paper, we firstly coupled the temperature, pressure, and seepage parameters of the CBM reservoir and built a CBM seepage model under the action of ultrasonic waves. Secondly, by comparing the numerical simulation results with the experiment, we verified the accuracy of the model. Finally, on the basis of the mathematical model, we simulated the change characteristics of pore pressure, reservoir temperature, permeability, and porosity under the action of ultrasonic waves. Research results show that under the action of ultrasonic waves, the pressure-drop funnel of CBM reservoir becomes more apparent. The boundary affected by the pressure drop also increases. With the increase of the action time of ultrasonic waves, the temperature of CBM reservoir also increases, and the action distance is about 4 m. With decreased pore pressure, the permeability and porosity of CBM reservoir significantly increase under the action of ultrasonic waves. With increased ultrasonic power, its effect on reservoir permeability and porosity becomes more significant. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Production from Coal Seam Gas/Deep Coal Seam Gas Reservoirs)
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Review

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37 pages, 13432 KiB  
Review
History, Geology, In Situ Stress Pattern, Gas Content and Permeability of Coal Seam Gas Basins in Australia: A Review
by Alireza Salmachi, Mojtaba Rajabi, Carmine Wainman, Steven Mackie, Peter McCabe, Bronwyn Camac and Christopher Clarkson
Energies 2021, 14(9), 2651; https://doi.org/10.3390/en14092651 - 5 May 2021
Cited by 52 | Viewed by 5767
Abstract
Coal seam gas (CSG), also known as coalbed methane (CBM), is an important source of gas supply to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporting facilities in eastern Australia and to the Australian domestic market. In late 2018, Australia became the largest exporter of [...] Read more.
Coal seam gas (CSG), also known as coalbed methane (CBM), is an important source of gas supply to the liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporting facilities in eastern Australia and to the Australian domestic market. In late 2018, Australia became the largest exporter of LNG in the world. 29% of the country’s LNG nameplate capacity is in three east coast facilities that are supplied primarily by coal seam gas. Six geological basins including Bowen, Sydney, Gunnedah, Surat, Cooper and Gloucester host the majority of CSG resources in Australia. The Bowen and Surat basins contain an estimated 40Tcf of CSG whereas other basins contain relatively minor accumulations. In the Cooper Basin of South Australia, thick and laterally extensive Permian deep coal seams (>2 km) are currently underdeveloped resources. Since 2013, gas production exclusively from deep coal seams has been tested as a single add-on fracture stimulation in vertical well completions across the Cooper Basin. The rates and reserves achieved since 2013 demonstrate a robust statistical distribution (>130 hydraulic fracture stages), the mean of which, is economically viable. The geological characteristics including coal rank, thickness and hydrogeology as well as the present-day stress pattern create favourable conditions for CSG production. Detailed analyses of high-resolution borehole image log data reveal that there are major perturbations in maximum horizontal stress (SHmax) orientation, both spatially and with depth in Australian CSG basins, which is critical in hydraulic fracture stimulation and geomechanical modelling. Within a basin, significant variability in gas content and permeability may be observed with depth. The major reasons for such variabilities are coal rank, sealing capacity of overlying formations, measurement methods, thermal effects of magmatic intrusions, geological structures and stress regime. Field studies in Australia show permeability may enhance throughout depletion in CSG fields and the functional form of permeability versus reservoir pressure is exponential, consistent with observations in North American CSG fields. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Gas Production from Coal Seam Gas/Deep Coal Seam Gas Reservoirs)
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