Coal Seam Gas

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Enablers:

  • 1970s OPEC oil embargo.
  • Availability in nations with little or no traditional gas reserves (e.g. China, India).
  • China's demand for coal and extensive coal mines.
  • Coal mine safety.
  • Development and dissemination of reservoir engineering and completion technology (1982 - 1987).
  • Growth of natural gas based electricity generation.
  • How natural gas prices.
  • Methane reduction in coal mining leads to less coal mining accidents and lower greenhouse emissions.
  • Price and tax incentives (US 1980 Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, Section 29)
  • Private sector research (especially Amoco, now BP).
  • Regulation on clean energy production.
  • Rising awareness of carbon emissions.
  • Rising demand for natural gas.
  • Risk of nationalisation of traditional sources of natural gas.
  • US public sector research (US Bureau of Mines, US Department of Energy, Gas Research Institute)

Inhibitors:

  • Environmental impact of extracting coal seam gas - mainly the disposal of water.
  • High initial costs.
  • Lower gas rates than conventional reservoirs.
  • Movement away from fossil fuels - regardless how clean - towards renewable energy sources.
  • Low natural gas prices.

Paradigms:

  • Brings a new view on previously uneconomical coal deposits. Previously if a coal deposit was uneconomical for mining it was left unexploited; now it is possible to extract gas from the coal bed for a much lower cost than mining.
  • Changes the way China thinks about meeting energy requirements.
  • Coal is now seen as a reservoir rock as well as a source rock.
  • Methane emissions can be reduced profitably in coal mines.

Experts:

Timing:

  • Late 1970s - Coal seam gas exploration starts in earnest in the U.S.A.
  • Mid 1980s - Established production in San Juan and Black Warrior Basins.
  • 1990s - commencement of development in Australia

Web Resources: