Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
MS-ES
University of Petroleum & Energy Studies
What is Coal Bed Methane???
Coal Bed Methane (CBM) is naturally occurring methane (CH4)
with small amounts of other hydrocarbon and non hydrocarbon
gases contained in coal seams as a result of chemical and physical
processes.
CBM is an environment-friendly clean fuel with properties similar
to natural gas. It is often produced at shallow depths and in most
cases with large volumes of water of variable quality.
Coal Bed Methane
It is called 'sweet gas' because of its lack of hydrogen sulphide.
The presence of this gas is well known from its occurrence in
underground coal mining, where it presents a serious safety
risk.
Source: Reeves
Reservoir mechanisms
Source: Reeves
Factors for Exploitation
Porosity plays an important role in building up methane gas
reserves in the coal bed. Unlike the conventional reservoirs, in coal
the methane is not compressed in the pore space (porosity) but
physically attached to the coal at molecular level (micro-porosity).
Jharia,
Raniganj,
East Bokaro,
West Bokaro,
North Karanpura and
Sohagpur
Hence, these blocks can be released for Coal Bed Methane only in
future subject to consent of concerned coal company / CIL.
It would be seen from Table that a total of 1924.42 Sq. Km have been
delineated as "Yes Area" which is available for CBM exploration and
exploitation in above mentioned coalfields. Based on these studies,
Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas is likely to invite global bids for
exploration / exploitation of CBM in India.
Steps in drilling a CBM gas well
1. Geophysical inputs
Remote sensing imagery
Seismic survey
2. Drilling
Remote sensing imagery
Remote sensing data to identify the major tectonic set-up
which is useful to explore an area of coal bed methane. The
details of major fault trends will help in prioritizing the areas
available for exploration.
Seismic survey
High resolution seismic survey is helpful to know the basin
configuration, its tectonic style, thickness of coal-bearing formation,
lateral continuity and approximate depth of different coal seams.
Conti……….!
The recoverable reserve of about 800 billion cubic metres
and gas production potential of about 105 million metre
cum per day over a period of 20 years has been estimated.
CBM potential is thus about 1.5 times the present natural gas
production in India, which is capable of generating about 19000
MW of electricity. The potential of gas production in India is given
in Table .
World scenario
According to the USGS in 2000, the US CBM resource is about
700 trillion cubic feet (tcf), of which they estimated about 100 tcf
to be economic. The US consumes about 22 tcf per year, so CBM
presents the equivalent of at least a 5 year supply to our country.
World-wide estimates of CBM resources range from 6,000 to
24,000 tcf, with the former Soviet Union estimated to have two
thirds of the resource. China’s resource is estimated at about
1,000 tcf.
Worldwide Interest
At the moment, almost all of the world’s 7.6 bcm/y production of
coal bed methane comes from the US3, where reserves of coal bed
methane are conservatively estimated at a third of natural gas
reserves. Drilling is concentrated in two areas, Alabama’s Black
warrior, where the coal seams are particularly gas-rich; and New
Mexico’s San Juan basin, which is tied into the natural gas grid4.