Insights and Analysis From the Rock Creek Project: A Reservoir Engineering Approach

Abstract

Since 1984, the Gas Research Institute has been conducting field evaluations of coalbed methane technology at the Rock Creek Project site near Birmingham, Alabama. This paper presents and discusses preliminary conclusions based on initial reservoir engineering analysis of data gathered from field experiments performed at Rock Creek..M~jor conclusions from the analysis performed to date are 1) post shut-rn methane production is not significantly reduced by water Influx during normal shut-in periods, 2) long-term methane recovery fro~ ~.well is ~ot a function of initial water pumping rate, provided the 1nrt1al rate IS a~ove the minimum required to initiate desorption, and 3) well-to-well rnterference is the primary mechanism for efficient recovery of coalbed methane.Ongoing reservoir engineering analysis will provide further insights toward characterizing methane production from multi-zone completion wells and establishing a rationale for dewatering coalbed methane wells.

Geological Storage of CO₂ to Enhance Coalbed Methane Production

“…To realize CO 2 geological storage and to increase CBM production at the same time is theoretically possible. CO 2 can easily transform into critical carbon dioxide at some condition (decided by temperature and pressure), and the critical carbon dioxide is more easy to displace CH 4 molecules than in gas state [9]. Additionally, coal seams' geochemical capture mechanism workes after injectiing CO 2 into coal bed.…”