The gas content of coal seams in the South Palembang basin has been assessed using well log data and core analysis. The seams are stratigraphically exposed at shallow levels (<300 m), and present in the Late Miocene-Early Pliocene Muara Enim sequence. The coal thickness of single bed in each well varies between ~7 m and ~14 m. All samples analyzed are low rank coals, suggesting subbituminous and high volatile bituminous. Vitrinite reflectance (VR) measurements vary from 0.49-0.59%, but there appears an increase in the VR value with depth. The coals contain predominantly huminite (56-86 vol. %), whereas liptinite and inertinite are less abundant, ranging from 0.2-12.2 vol. % and 4.2-19.2 vol. % respectively. These low rank coals comprise a small number of minerals (6-11 vol. %), high moisture content of 2.4-12.6 wt. %, volatile matters of >39 wt. %, and fixed carbons of >43 wt. %. The amount of gas within individual coal layer varies from 4.1-5.3 m 3 /t, but the gas content tends to increase with deeper burial. The sum of the estimated gas-in-place is approximately 3,019x10 6 m 3 . In addition, the onset of gas generation within these near surface coals may occur due to biogenic controls during the coal-forming processes, as a result of sedimentation of the overburden in Pliocene time prior to the subsequent basin inversion commencing in the Plio-Pleistocene.