Measuring coal gas content and permeability simultaneously

WellDog recently commercialised a new service that measures gas content and permeability in-situ and subsurface in real time for coal mine operators. The service is based on a combination of two in-situ measurements performed on fluids drawn from coal cleats downhole: reservoir Raman spectroscopy (RRS) for gas identification and quantification and drill stem testing (DST) to quantify permeability through pressure transient analysis.

The company is now preparing the service for broad commercialisation into the coalbed methane (CBM) industry. This preparation involved development of surface pressure control equipment to accommodate the safety standards demanded by petroleum rigs. It also includes implementing methods and algorithms to enable generation of appropriate adsorption isotherms that are required to accurately calculate gas content from the gas partial pressures measured downhole. And it involves upcoming field trials in a number of regions and at various points in the exploration/development cycle in a manner designed to fine tune the operational and commercial features of the service.

In this report, John Pope, WellDog, US, and Quentin Morgan, WellDog Pty Ltd, Australia, will discuss RRS and DST, the enabling technologies behind this new service, and the subsequent design of a generic test programme to establish the parameters of a coal seam reservoir.

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John Pope, WellDog, US, and Quentin Morgan, WellDog Pty Ltd, Australia.

Read the article online at: https://www.worldcoal.com/cbm/05112013/cbmreview_welldog_describes_technology_for_in_situ_measurement_of_cbm_reservoirs_cbm01/