Impact of Various Parameters on the Production of Coalbed Methane

SPE Journal ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (05) ◽  
pp. 910-923 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhongwei Chen ◽  
Jishan Liu ◽  
Akim Kabir ◽  
Jianguo Wang ◽  
Zhejun Pan

Summary Coalbed-methane (CBM) reservoirs are naturally fractured formations, comprising both permeable fractures and matrix blocks. The interaction between fractures and matrix presents a great challenge for the forecast of CBM reservoir performance. In this work, a dual-permeability model was applied to study the parameter sensitivity on the CBM production, because the dual-permeability model incorporates not only the influence from matrix and fractures but also that between adjacent matrix blocks. The mass exchange between two systems is defined as a function of desorption time constant at the standard condition, coal matrix porosity, and the difference of gas pressure between two systems. Correspondingly, gas diffusivity in matrix is considered as a variable and represented by a function of shape factor, gas desorption time, and reservoir pressure. These relations are integrated into a fully coupled numerical model of coal geomechanical deformation and gas desorption/gas flow in both systems. This numerical approach demonstrates the important nonlinear effects of the complex interaction between matrix and fractures on CBM production behaviors that cannot be recovered without rigorously incorporating geomechanical influences. This model was then used to investigate the sensitivity of CBM extraction behavior to different controlling factors, including gas desorption time constant, initial fracture permeability, fracture spacing, swelling capacity, desorption capacity, production pressure, and fracture and matrix porosities. Modeling results show that the peak magnitudes of gas-production rate increase with initial fracture permeability, sorption and swelling capacities, and matrix porosity, and decrease with gas desorption time constant and production pressure. These results also show dramatic increase in gas-production efficiency with decreasing magnitudes of fracture spacing. The comparison of the transient contributions of the desorbed gas and the free phase gas from the matrix system to gas production shows that the free phase gas plays the dominant role at the early stage, but diminishes when the adsorption phase gas takes over the dominant role, indicating the necessity of incorporating free phase gas impact in simulation models. The numerical model was also applied to match the history data from a gas-production well. A better matching result than that for the single-permeability model demonstrates the potential capability of the dual-permeability model for the forecast of CBM production.

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.. Chen ◽  
M.. Li ◽  
Y.. Zhang ◽  
C.. Liu ◽  
Y.. Li

Abstract This paper describes a three-dimensional numerical model for predicting the coalbed methane (CBM) production. The model describes single phase gas desorption from coal matrix, diffusion to the fracture and two-phase flow of gas and water in the natural fracture system as well as the permeability changes in coal which result from effective stress changes and matrix shrinkage due to gas desorption. The model was discretized by a finite difference method. The implicit pressure-explicit saturation (IMPES) method was used to solve the two-phase flow equations and gas desorption equation was solved implicitly. The numerical model was validated by the field data from Qinshui basin in China. Based on the model, the impact of various reservoir and Langmuir isothermal adsorption parameters on the gas production was investigated. The results show that the gas production rate of the coalbed methane predicted by this model is in good accordance with the field data. The permeability near the wellbore dramatically decreases as the reservoir pressure drops at the early production period while at the later production period, the permeability near the wellbore increases because of the matrix shrinkage. The permeability changes far away from the wellbore are not so remarkable. In addition, the gas production rate increases with the increased permeability, seam thickness and Langmuir pressure constant while it decreases with the increased porosity and Langmuir volume constant. The numerical model can be used to predict and analyze the production performance of CBM reservoirs and the research results provide theoretical support for CBM production.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinlu Yan ◽  
Songhang Zhang ◽  
Shuheng Tang ◽  
Zhongcheng Li ◽  
Yongxiang Yi ◽  
...  

Due to the unique adsorption and desorption characteristics of coal, coal reservoir permeability changes dynamically during coalbed methane (CBM) development. Coal reservoirs can be classified using a permeability dynamic characterization in different production stages. In the single-phase water flow stage, four demarcating pressures are defined based on the damage from the effective stress on reservoir permeability. Coal reservoirs are classified into vulnerable, alleviative, and invulnerable reservoirs. In the gas desorption stage, two demarcating pressures are used to quantitatively characterize the recovery properties of permeability based on the recovery effect of the matrix shrinkage on permeability, namely the rebound pressure (the pressure corresponding to the lowest permeability) and recovery pressure (the pressure when permeability returns to initial permeability). Coal reservoirs are further classified into recoverable and unrecoverable reservoirs. The physical properties and influencing factors of these demarcating pressures are analyzed. Twenty-six wells from the Shizhuangnan Block in the southern Qinshui Basin of China were examined as a case study, showing that there is a significant correspondence between coal reservoir types and CBM well gas production. This study is helpful for identifying geological conditions of coal reservoirs as well as the productivity potential of CBM wells.


2013 ◽  
Vol 868 ◽  
pp. 700-704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Wang ◽  
Fan Dong ◽  
Qing Zhong Zhu ◽  
Yan Hui Yang ◽  
Tian Peng Yao

Desorption of Coalbed Methane is one of the key controls to CBM recovery ratio and production capacity. This paper discusses the impact of engineered measures on CBM overall desorption and production capacity with CBM model of Eclipse numerical simulation software. The simulation results show that: with the extension of hydraulic fracture half-length, overall desorption of coal reservoir increased and CBM production capacity improved, daily gas production, maximum gas production and stable yield time increased correspondingly; in different deployment of spacing and well network, the smaller spacing is beneficial to the overall desorption of coal reservoir, but its production can not keep stability because of the serious decline in the late stage of development, while the larger spacing shows in the opposite way.


Author(s):  
Chen Hao ◽  
Qin Yong ◽  
Zhou Shangwen ◽  
Wang Hongyan ◽  
Chen Zhenhong ◽  
...  

Coalbed Methane(CBM) production enhancement for single wells is a big problem to CBM industrialization. Low production is due to insufficient gas generation by thermogenic. Luckily, Biogenic gas was found in many areas and its supply is assumed to improve coalbed methane production. Therefore, microbial simulation experiment will demonstrate the effectiveness of the assumption. From microbial simulation experiment on different coal ranks, it is found that microbes can use coals to produce biogas under laboratory conditions. With different temperatures for different experiments, it turns out that the gas production at 35 ℃ is greater than that at 15℃,indicating that 35℃ is more suitable for microbes to produce gas. According to quantitative experiments, adding exogenous nutrients or exogenous bacteria can improve CBM production. Moreover, the production enhancement ratio can reach up to 115% under the condition of adding exogenous bacterial species, while the ratio for adding nutrients can be up to 144%.


2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shiyu Yang ◽  
Yidong Cai ◽  
Ren Wei ◽  
Yingfang Zhou

Predicting the permeability of coalbed methane (CBM) reservoirs is significant for coalbed methane exploration and coalbed methane development. In this work, a new fracture permeability model of coalbed methane reservoir with high-dip angle in the southern Junggar Basin, NW China is established based on the Poiseuille and Darcy laws. The fracture porosity in coalbed methane reservoir is calculated by applying 3D finite element method. The formation cementing index m was calculated by combining fractal theory and the data of acoustic logging, compensated neutron logging, and density logging with the space method. Based on Poiseuille and Darcy laws, the curvature τ is introduced to derive this new method for obtaining the permeability of the original fractures in coalbed methane reservoirs. Moreover, this newly established permeability model is compared with the permeability from the well testing, which shows a very good correlation between them. This model comprehensively includes the effects of fracture porosity, reservoir pore structure, and development conditions on fracture permeability. Finally, the permeability prediction of coalbed methane reservoir with high-dip angle in the southern Junggar Basin, NW China is conducted, which correlates very well with the well test permeability ( R2 = 0.83). Therefore, this model can be used to accurately predict the coalbed methane reservoir permeability of low rank coals in the southern Junggar Basin. The permeability of the No.43 coalbed methane reservoir for the coalbed methane wells without well testing data is evaluated, which ranges from 0.000251 to 0.379632 mD. This significant change in permeability may indicate a complex coalbed methane reservoir structure in the southern Junggar Basin, NW China.


2021 ◽  
pp. 014459872110571
Author(s):  
Zhigang Du ◽  
Yawen Tao ◽  
Xiaodong Zhang ◽  
Wuxiu Ding ◽  
Qiang Huang

Coalbed methane (CBM) resources cannot be efficiently explored and exploited without a robust understanding of the permeability of fracture-size heterogeneities in coal. In this study, two sister coal samples were imparted with pre-developed cleat and connected fractures, and the permeability of the coal samples was measured under different conditions of controlled confining and gas pressures. Furthermore, the implications of the results for CBM exploration and exploitation were discussed. The permeability of coal with cleat development ranged from 0.001–0.01 mD, indicating ultra-low permeability coal. The gas migration in this coal changed from a linear flow to a non-linear flow, with the increase in gas pressure (>1 MPa). Thus, the permeability of the coal initially increased and then decreased. However, the Klinkenberg effect does not exist in this ultralow-permeability coal. For the coal sample with connected fracture, permeability ranged from 0.1–10 mD, which is larger by hundred orders of magnitude than that of the sample with cleat. For this coal, with a decrease in gas pressure (<1 MPa), the Klinkenberg effect significantly increased the permeability of the coal. With an increase in the applied confining pressure, both the Klinkenberg coefficient and permeability of the coal presented a decreasing trend. It is suggested that field fracture investigation is a prerequisite and indispensable step for successful CBM production. The coal beds that cleat network is well conductive to the connected fracture can be an improved target area for CBM production. During CBM production, a variety of flow regimes are available owing to the decrease in CBM reservoir pressure. In particular, under the low CBM reservoir pressure and low in situ geo-stress conditions, the gas migration in the CBM reservoir with connected facture development exhibits remarkable free-molecular flow. Thus, the reservoir permeability and predicted CBM production will be enhanced.


2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (5) ◽  
pp. 1535-1558
Author(s):  
Qiujia Hu ◽  
Shiqi Liu ◽  
Shuxun Sang ◽  
Huihuang Fang ◽  
Ashutosh Tripathy ◽  
...  

Multilayer drainage is one of the important technologies for coalbed methane (CBM) production in China. In this study, a multi-field fully coupled mathematical model for CBM production was established to analyze the multilayer drainage of CBM well group in southern Qinshui basin. Based on the numerical simulation results, the characteristics of CBM well production under different drainage rates and key factors influencing the CBM production were further discussed. The results show that the effect of an increased drainage rate on gas production of CBM wells and CBM recovery of No.3 coal seam is not significant. However, it significantly improved the gas production of CBM wells and CBM recovery of No.15 coal seam. After a long period of production, the CBM content in No.3 coal seam has reduced to a low level and the pressure drop potential of No.3 coal seam is insignificant, which are important reasons for the insignificant increase of CBM production even under a drainage rate of 2 to 7 times. Conversely, No.15 coal seam has larger residual CBM content and increasing the drainage rate can significantly improve the pressure drop and superimposed well interference of No.15 coal seam, which means No.15 coal seam has greater production potential than No.3 coal seam. Therefore, it is recommended to improve the gas production and CBM recovery in No.15 coal seam by increasing the drainage rate, and the average hydraulic pressure drop should be 0.018–0.031 MPa/day. The influence of effective stress is weak in No.3 and No.15 coal seam, and the coal seam permeability is largely influenced by the shrinkage of coal matrix caused by CBM desorption. This indicates the feasibility of increase in gas production from CBM wells by increasing the drainage rate.


2017 ◽  
Vol 140 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingjun Zou ◽  
Chongtao Wei ◽  
Miao Zhang ◽  
Xiaochun Lv

Mathematical models were developed in this study to quantify the gas and water transfer between coal matrix and cleat network during coalbed methane (CBM) drainage, which can be helpful to achieve some useful findings on features of fluid migration within coal reservoirs during drainage process. A typical CBM well located at southern Qinshui basin of China was selected as the case study. The ineffective critical porosity was defined and was used to acquire fluid transfer as a key parameter of the established model. Results showed that both the gas and water transfer controlled the drainage performances. Water drained from cleat was found to be the main reason for the decrease in the reservoir pressure at the early drainage stage, while the water transfer became significantly more important with the continuation of the drainage process. The first peak of gas production was controlled by gas desorption, and the subsequent peaks were influenced by the gas transfer.


Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 5081 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shun Liang ◽  
Hao Han ◽  
Derek Elsworth ◽  
Xuehai Fu ◽  
Qiangling Yao ◽  
...  

The large spatial variability of in-situ stress and initial reservoir pressure in steeply-dipping ultra-thick coalbed methane (UTCBM) reservoirs exert strong control on the initial distribution of stress-sensitive permeability. This results in significant differences in the propagation of reservoir depressurization, gas production characteristics, distribution of fluid saturation, and evolution of permeability relative to flat-lying and thin counterpart coalbed methane (CBM) reservoirs. We contrast these responses using the Fukang mining area of the Junggar Basin, Xinjiang, China, as a type-example using coupled hydro-mechanical modeling. Production response indicates: (1) Dual peaks in CBM production rate, due to the asynchronous changes in the gas production rate in each the upper and lower sections of the reservoir; (2) higher depressurization and water saturation levels in the lower section of the reservoir relative to the upper at any given distance from the production well that ameliorate with time to be similar to those of standard horizontal reservoirs; (3) the heterogeneity in effective stress is further amplified by the asymmetry of the initial pressure drawdown distribution of the reservoir to exert extreme control on the down-dip evolution of absolute permeability—with implications for production. Field drainage data and simulation results obtained in this study more accurately reflect the drainage characteristics of the steeply-dipping UTCBM reservoirs. For ultra-thick low-rank coal seams, permeability anisotropy plays an important role in determining the utility of horizontal wells and hydraulic fracturing to maximize rates and yields CBM production, and requiring further study.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 213
Author(s):  
Chao Cui ◽  
Suoliang Chang ◽  
Yanbin Yao ◽  
Lutong Cao

Coal macrolithotypes control the reservoir heterogeneity, which plays a significant role in the exploration and development of coalbed methane. Traditional methods for coal macrolithotype evaluation often rely on core observation, but these techniques are non-economical and insufficient. The geophysical logging data are easily available for coalbed methane exploration; thus, it is necessary to find a relationship between core observation results and wireline logging data, and then to provide a new method to quantify coal macrolithotypes of a whole coal seam. In this study, we propose a L-Index model by combing the multiple geophysical logging data with principal component analysis, and we use the L-Index model to quantitatively evaluate the vertical and regional distributions of the macrolithotypes of No. 3 coal seam in Zhengzhuang field, southern Qinshui basin. Moreover, we also proposed a S-Index model to quantitatively evaluate the general brightness of a whole coal seam: the increase of the S-Index from 1 to 3.7, indicates decreasing brightness, i.e., from bright coal to dull coal. Finally, we discussed the relationship between S-Index and the hydro-fracturing effect. It was found that the coal seam with low S-Index values can easily form long extending fractures during hydraulic fracturing. Therefore, the lower S-Index values indicate much more favorable gas production potential in the Zhengzhuang field. This study provides a new methodology to evaluate coal macrolithotypes by using geophysical logging data.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document