Technology Today Series

Coalbed-Methane Evaluation Techniques The Current State of the Art

Michael D. Zuber and Charles M. Boyer II, Schlumberger Holditch-Reservoir Technologies

Because of the complexity of coal reservoirs, formationevaluation techniques are extremely important for determining the commercial viability of coalbed-methane prospects. This article focuses on the reservoir evaluation techniques that are used to assess prospects for coalbedmethane development. A variety of reservoir-evaluation methods specific to coal reservoirs have evolved over time, including core evaluation, well logging, seismic, transientpressure testing, and production analysis. This article addresses current methods and newer, state-of-the-art methods that are under development and becoming more accepted for use in evaluating coal reservoirs. As Fig. 1 shows, coals are complex, naturally fractured reservoirs. Coalbed-methane production is characterized by a high degree of variability. This variability in well production exists when comparing wells within discrete production fields, across regions within producing basins, and between coal basins. Lateral changes in reservoir permeability appear to be the primary cause of well-to-well production variation, although changes in coal-seam thickness, sorbed gas-content, water saturation, and reservoir pressure also affect well productivity. Many coalbed-methane prospects are under evaluation in the U.S. and throughout the world. In the U.S., higher gas prices have accelerated exploration of prospects in areas that previously were thought to be uneconomical for development. These areas include relatively unexplored new basins as well as step-out areas in developed production areas. In addition, significant prospect evaluation is occurring in international areas, including Australia, China, India, and Europe. Objectives of the Reservoir Evaluation From the reservoir-evaluation standpoint, two main questions must be addressed: What is the resource in place? And what are the production characteristics of the reservoir? Before discussing these questions, it is worth noting that reservoir evaluation for coal reservoirs must be performed on a field-by-field basis to develop a proper understanding of the production characteristics and reserves for each area. This requirement results from the inherent variability of the coal reservoir, which is born out by historic producing trends in mature development areas, such as the Black Warrior basin in Alabama (Fig. 2) and the San Juan basin in Colorado and New Mexico (Fig. 3). Also, it is important to understand this variability when evaluating pilot-project
Copyright 2002 Society of Petroleum Engineers This is paper SPE 72274. Technology Today Series articles provide useful summary information on both classic and emerging concepts in petroleum engineering. Purpose: To provide the general reader with a basic understanding of a significant concept, technique, or development within a specific area of technology.

or exploration-test data while attempting to evaluate the commerciality of prospective development areas. Because of the inherent variability in production, it is often difficult to evaluate commercial viability on the basis of a few random data points. Often, multiple exploration wellbores and/or pilot tests are needed to understand fully the expected average production and reserves for a prospective development area. Volume of the Gas Resource in Place. Estimating the resource in place depends upon the following reservoirparameter determinations. Reservoir geometry (depth, thickness, lateral extent, number of seams, and structure). Gas content (both sorbed and free gas). Coal composition (chemical, maceral, and mineralogical). Three methods are used to determine these properties: well testing, core testing, and seismic. Well logging is primarily used to evaluate reservoir geometry and coal thickness. The basic logging suite for evaluating coal reservoirs includes gamma ray, density, resistivity, and caliper tools. Neutron logs also are run in many cases. The density log (especially when run in a high-resolution format) is most useful for evaluating reservoir thickness because of the large inherent differences in density between coals and the surrounding rock layers. However, similar results can be obtained by use of the appropriate resistivity and neutron logs. Importantly, the high-resolution density log can be evaluated to determine the volume of noncoal material (primarily mineral-matter) in the target coal seam. Resistivity tools can be useful in some cases for estimating relative differences in reservoir permeability in multiseam reservoirs because of fluid invasion into the naturally fractured coal reservoir. Image logs are used sometimes to assist in this evaluation of cleat and fracture characteristics. Newer state-of-the-art chemical logs are beginning to be used to identify basic chemical components in the coal reservoir, which then can be reconstructed to give a logbased coal compositional analysis. When calibrated with core data, these tools can be used to evaluate the relative quality of multizone reservoirs and assist in designing well completions. Importantly, these tools are permitting a more detailed analysis of coal seams present behind pipe in wells that had previously targeted other hydrocarbon reservoirs. Fig. 4 shows a sample well-log evaluation. Core recovery and testing remains the primary method for evaluating gas resource in place in coal reservoirs. Three main tests include the canister desorption test for direct measurement of the volume of gas in the recovered coal core, the laboratory sorption analysis for determining

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Fig. 1Natural fractures (called cleating) in coal (photo Boyer, 2000).

the coal isotherm (relationship between pressure and sorptive capacity), and the proximate analysis for defining basic coal composition (primarily ash and moisture content). These parameters define the basic gas-in-place per unit of reservoir mass, as well as how the gas will be released upon pressure reduction in the reservoir. Because these parameters can be measured from only fresh coal samples, coring still remains a large part of the reservoirevaluation process. Seismic data can be useful in determining reservoir extent and structure. Primarily, seismic investigation has been used in virgin exploratory areas where subsurface data control is limited. Historically, seismic data were not used extensively for the evaluation of coal reservoirs. Many of the early coalbed-methane projects were in areas that have abundant subsurface data. These data were either from underground mining activity and mine-development coreholes (such as the Black Warrior basin) or from geophysical well-log data in areas of significant oil and gas activity targeting other formations (such as the San Juan basin). As the industry moves into areas with little or no subsurface data, seismic-data acquisition and evaluation becomes more important. In addition, with improvements in processing seismic data (such as shear-wave anisotropy), regions of enhanced natural fracturing of the coal seam (and higher permeability) may be identified. Production Characteristics of the Reservoir. The primary parameters in determining the production characteristics of the reservoir are as follows. Desorption characteristics (isotherm). Permeability. Gas saturation conditions. Well spacing. Reservoir pressure. Productive characteristics of coal reservoirs depend primarily upon the reservoir permeability and the initial gassaturation conditions in the reservoir. The primary evaluation methods include well testing, production logging, analysis of production-test data, and material-balance techniques.

Well testing is the primary method for evaluating reservoir permeability, and single-phase water injection/falloff testing is the most popular method. This method is the most versatile in evaluating permeability across a wide range of reservoir conditions. Other test methods, such as conventional drillstem tests and slug tests, also have been used to evaluate coal permeability. However, these methods have limitations that make their use viable only under certain conditions. Often, well tests provide the most accurate estimates of initial reservoir pressure. In evaluating multizone coal reservoirs, it often is important to develop a relative comparison between the production characteristics of the different potential target zones. This comparison is accomplished best by combining production logging with an injection test. Because most coal reservoirs will not flow gas or water to the surface by C. naturally, it generally is not possible to run production logs under flowing conditions. Therefore, an injection test can be used as a reverse production test, and a production log can be used to define the relative flow contributions of the various zones and assist in determining completion methodologies in multizone reservoirs. Perhaps the most widely used analysis method is production analysis. Before large-scale commercial development, most coal reservoirs are evaluated by use of some type of production test, be it a pilot test or a small-scale demonstration project for a period of 1 to 6 months. These initial production data provide an indication of the actual production characteristics of the reservoir under field conditions. Analysis of the collected production data usually requires the use of a coalbed-methane simulator to characterize the complex coal-reservoir flow mechanisms. Significant experience in this area has shown that reservoir models calibrated with production-test data can be extremely useful for estimating production characteristics and reserves for coalbed reservoirs. The calibrated models then are useful for optimizing completion and

Fig. 2Variability in 5-year cumulative gas production in the Black Warrior basin.

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equations. These methods have proved accurate in estimating reserves for coalbed-methane reservoirs. However, application of these methods requires accurate measurements of reservoir pressure (at initial conditions and over JPT time), which often are not available.
Michael D. Zuber, SPE, is Principal ConsultantUnconventional Gas with Schlumberger Holditch-Reservoir Technologies. He is responsible for assisting clients in the evaluation and optimization of unconventional gas reservoirs, such as coals, shales, and tight sands. Zuber has authored numerous papers and articles relating to the evaluation of coalbed methane reservoirs. He is a registered professional engineer in Pennsylvania and holds a BS degree in petroleum engineering from Marietta College and an MS degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M U. Charles M. Boyer II, SPE, is Principal Consultant with Schlumberger HolditchReservoir Technologies. In the area of coalbed methane, he has authored more than 70 technical papers and articles and has made more than 50 technical presentations at conferences throughout the world. Boyers current focus is reservoir assessment methodology, as related to coal-seam reservoirs. He holds a BS degree in geological sciences from Pennsylvania State U. and has completed graduate studies in mining and petroleum engineering at the U. of Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania State U.

Fig. 3Variability in 5-year cumulative gas production in the San Juan basin.

production methods, as well as for optimizing development well spacing. Finally, material-balance methods have been developed for coal reservoirs. These methods use standard materialbalance equations, with the addition of coal desorption

Fig. 4Chemical logs, like Schlumbergers Elemental Capture Spectroscopy log shown here, provide new capabilities for coal-formation evaluation.

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