Application of Geophysical Well Logs in Coal bed Methane Prospect Evaluation

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Application of Geophysical Well-Logs in Coal bed Methane

Prospect Evaluation
Dr.V.Gopala Rao and Mr.R.N.Chakraborty
HLS Asia Ltd.

Abstract
Geophysical Well logs are important information source for CBM prospect evaluation. It identifies
coal layers without any ambiguity and offers a permanent record, which facilitates spatial
correlation, and work out geological history of the area by workers of different discipline at the
same time or at different point of time. Geophysical well log characteristics of coal beds bears a
strong semblance to coal ranking, recognizes cleat potential & fracture zones and provides
inferences on thermal history, pressure regime and about stress field of the area that are vital for
prospect evaluation. Well logs are most reliable data source in various map preparation needed
for reserve estimation, forecast production potential and plan for optimal recovery of methane
gas. Well log data being a permanent record, offers a strong foundation for generating transforms
between laboratories derived data vis--vis log data for continuous evaluation and apply
corrective reality measures to incorporate subtle local variations caused due to geologic
environmental changes. These transforms have found wider acceptance throughout the globe for
various assessment, and handy, to make forecast on production potential. Among the array of
logs used in CBM prospect evaluation, density log occupies a special position. This is because of
its wider use e.g. in various assessments, framing transforms, and Gas In Place (GIP) calculation
through volumetric method.

Introduction
CBM is an energy source and are
held in coal layers in a liquid like
state. Coals can accommodate six or
seven times more gas volume than
conventional sand reservoirs. Coals
have high micro-porosity and large
internal surface area that provides
the requisite accommodation space
to host methane gas, which can be
recovered before, during and after
mining, and even from the debris
after abandonment of mining activity,
called gob gas. After extraction of
CBM, coal layers can act as a good
host for CO2 sequestration because
CO2 has high degree of affinity to
coal layers. CBM exploitation is
therefore advantageous from the
standpoint of protecting planet Earth
from potent green house effect
leading to high global warming.

Methane has 21 times more warming

capability than CO2.
Coals are of following types: Peat,
Lignite, Sub-Bituminous, Bituminous,
and Anthracite. Major elements in
coal are: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen,
sulfur and nitrogen. Minor quantities
of metals e.g. iron, sodium, calcium,
mercury etc. and many organic
molecules are also present. Their
organic structure varies depending
on content and grade. Organic
structures in coal generally are too
complicated as can be viewed from
the example presented here in (Fig.
1). It is in these molecular sieves,
methane molecule is stored. To
exploit this gas economically, it is
necessary to assess its potential
first. To this effect, well logs through
out the world have been found very
effective and potent data source.

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Coalification, Methane Generation and Entrapment

can take place in coal beds of any

rank.

Coal is a carbon rich rock derived

from plant material in swamps. Peat
is the first stage of transformation. It
is created under specific conditions
e.g. water logging, lack of oxygen or
nutrients, high acidity and low
temperature. Its subsequent burial
by ongoing geologic processes,
which led to high temperature and
pressure with increasing depth of
burial, affect the plant material
undergo
coalification,
releasing
volatile matters (water, CO2, light
hydrocarbons including methane
CH4). With on going coalification
process, coal becomes progressively
rich in carbon content and continues
to expel volatile matter.

Thermogenic origin takes place in

higher coal ranks (vitrinite reflectance, R0 value > 0.6 %); temperature plays a big role in gas yield.
Gas generation is maximum in
Anthracite and too low in Bituminous
coal.

CBM origin can be biogenic or

thermogenic. The requirements for
biogenic gas generation are: anoxic
environment, low sulfate concentration, low temperature, abundant
organic matter, high pH values,
adequate pore space and rapid
sedimentation. Biogenic methane
gas is generated over a period of
tens of thousands of years.

CBM Prospect evaluation needs:

knowledge of thermal history,
pressure regime, hydro-dynamics
and regional stress. These are
inferred parameters. In addition to
these, the coal characteristics, coal
ranking, gas adsorption capacity,
initial gas phase concentration and
critical saturation are important
laboratory
derived
parameters
needed to predict gas generation
and production potential. To work out
these parameters, one relies on
following information sources: Cores
and cuttings, Well logs, Input from
Mines, Outcrop Analogue, Geology
and Seismic data. The approach to
evaluation, therefore, is on integration and co-viewing of multidisciplinary data.

Biogenic gas can be generated in

two stages: One, in the early stage,
from the peat, favored by rapid
sedimentation (It is believed that
most of the biogenic gases were
probably generated during this early
stage) and two, in the late stage, in
recent geological time and is
associated with active ground water
system, which provides favorable
environment for bacterial activity,
including methane generation. This
late stage biogenic gas generation

Gas is trapped in the coal seam in

part by water pressure and in part by
weak co-valent bonding, known as
Van de(r) Walls forces. Large
amount of gas can be stored in the
molecular cage at low pressure and
is adsorbed into the internal structure
of the coal.

CBM Prospect Evaluation

On thermal history front, vitrinite

reflectance (R0) and presence of
clays are important contributors,

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particularly kaolinite, which indicates

that the temperature involved in
coalification must have been less
than 200 C. At and above this
temperature, the common clay
minerals are metamorphosed.

By combining gas content data with

an adsorption isotherm, it is possible
to determine the gas saturation
condition (Fig.4).

For specific development, relationship between gas content and

gas holding capacity determined
from sorption isotherm is important.
Sorption isotherm is the relationship
between gas storage capacity and
pressure at constant temperature. It
is usually referred as Langmuir
sorption isotherm (Fig.2). The
relationship is exponential and is
worked out on actual coal sample in
the laboratory. Characteristics of
Langmuir sorption isotherm are
dependent on inorganic content,
organic
properties
and
on
temperature.

CBM production is a function of

Langmuir isotherm. When the effects
of adsorption and the two-phase flow
are combined, the characteristic
curves assume distinct shape. For
water, we expect to see significant
initial production followed by a
decline, and for gas, we expect to
see no initial gas production followed
by an increasing gas rate, and finally
a decline (Fig.5).

For estimating production potential,

knowledge on following three factors
is critical: Desorption of gas from the
coal
matrix
(follows
sorption
isotherm), diffusion of gas in the
cleat system and flow through
fractures (hydrodynamics). From
production engineering standpoint,
these can be put under two heads:
Permeability and Gas content.

CBM Production

A field may take years before the

onset of actual gas production. This
together with environment compliance water disposal system determines the commercial viability of
CBM project.

Contribution of Geophysical
Well Logs

Most mature coals were originally

fully saturated, but coal looses gas
as reservoir pressure is reduced, due
to: uplift, faulting or unconformities
(Fig.3). Coals can store more gas at
lower temperatures after a basin is
uplifted.

Well logs are important information

source for identifying coal layers
(Fig.6) and infer their characteristics
e.g. cleats, ash and moisture
content. It provides several important
parameters e.g. net pay thickness,
reservoir pressure and host of inputs
for map preparation necessary for
reserve estimation, and forecasts
spatial extent, gas potential and
recovery factor. Core-log transforms
have been found very helpful to this
effect.

Coals can become fully saturated

when more gas is added due to
secondary biogenic gas generation.

Determination of Ash content from

density log is routine feature (Fig.7).
Direct relationship exists between

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density and ash content. By

extrapolation of this relationship, ash
density (RHOa) & pure, ash free,
organic coal density (RHOo) can be
calculated. This input is important
because gas content decreases with
increase of inorganic content.
Further,
gas-in-place
formula
(Volumetric equation) contains bulk
density parameter as direct input,
(Fig.8) making density log a vital
data source.
With the onset of production,
pressure
measurements
are
routinely made, often near the
producing layer(s) through wire-line
gauges to have reliable first hand
information on pressure regime.
Knowledge about stress field is
deduced from full wave sonic logs.
Thus host of information are
gathered from wire-line services,
which in conjunction with the
supplementary
sources,
reduce
dependency on actual sample measurements and enable continuous
evaluation instead of discrete
evaluation, and incorporate subtle
changes
observed
in
coal
characteristics which otherwise can
be missed.

Examples
Well log response against coal layers
yields net pay thickness and
characterizes coal layers, which are
eventually linked to coal ranking.
Micro log have been found useful in
establishing cleat potential and
delineating fractures (Fig.9).

Density log is useful for ash content,

gas content and other miscellaneous
evaluation (Figs.10, 11, 12, &13).
Neutron log at times is useful for
moisture content estimation.
Full wave sonic logs help in
estimating mechanical properties of
coal layers and in establishing the
stress field direction. These inputs
are used in designing hydro
fracturing and /or cavitations job to
increase productivity.
Pressure measurements at regular
interval facilitates in estimating
original gas in place (OGIP) through
material balance and, from the
decline curve analysis, the ultimate
recovery of methane gas.
Future exploration, evaluation and
exploitation practices shall rely more
on seismic attribute analysis and well
log integration for reliable spatial
coal characterization. This will
enable engineers draw successful
exploitation plans by incorporating
dynamic properties e.g. reservoir and
production engineering data to coal
characterization. In the entire
process of integration, well logs
directly
or
indirectly
(through
transforms) provide the requisite link
of multi-faced disciplines.

Conclusions
Well logs have been found useful in
all
stages
of
CBM
project
management venture exploration,
evaluation and exploitation.
Ability of well logs in delineating coal
layers without any ambiguity and

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their geophysical characteristics link

to coal ranking have made them an
accepted data source in the industry.
Well logs provide the requisite link in
integrating multi-disciplinary subjects
necessary for providing global
solution.
Future will see more intense
integration with seismic attributes for
better and more reliable spatial
characterization. This will provide a
firm base for reservoir and
production engineers to draw
successful work plan for optimal
exploitation.
Density log finds a special place in
CBM property analysis because
density value is directly used in
volumetric method for Gas in Place
(GIP) assessment, quantitative ash
and (at least) qualitative gas content
determination. It is indirectly related
to moisture content as well. The
relationship between volume of
moisture and ash content is linear.
Micro-log response against coal
beds gives good indication about
cleat potential and presence of likely
fractures, providing operator useful
information about future drilling
techniques and completion design.
Shear wave is generally not
supported
in
coals.
The
recommended practice is to estimate
this value from Stonley wave velocity
or from a known value of Poissions
ratio. From inferred shear wave
arrival time, mechanical properties of
coal beds are estimated and are
stretched further for determining
stress
direction.
This
useful

information is used in designing

hydro-fracturing and cavitations job.
Application of imagery tool and
nuclear
magnetic
tool
hold
tremendous potential in permeability
assessment which needs to be
explored.

Acknowledgements
Authors would like to express their
acknowledgements to the management of HLS Asia Ltd for the
permission and resources to write
this paper.

References
Mullen,
M.J.,
1991,
Coalbed
Methane Resource Evaluation from
Wireline Logs in Northeastern San
Juan Basin: A Case Study, SPE
18946, PP 161-172.
Mullen, M.J., 1991, Cleat Detection
in Coalbeds using the Micro Log,
Rocky Mountain Association of
Geologists, PP 137-147.
Mullen, M.J. 1988, Log Evaluation in
Wells Drilled for Coal-bed Methane,
Rocky Mountain Association of
Geologists, PP 113-124.
Halliburton Document on CBM
Logging Techniques and Evaluation.
Sircar and Anirbid, August, 2000, A
Review
of
Coalbed
Methane
Exploration
and
Exploitation,
Current Science, Vol. 79, NO. 4.
National
Laboratory

Energy
Future

Technology
Supply and

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Emerging
ResourcesCoalbed
Natural Gas document.

Coal Bed Methane Play and

Prospect
Evaluation
Using
GeoGraphix Software, Document.

Determining
Gas
Production
Characteristics of Coal Seams,
www.sigra.com.au/ppr_csgdet.html.

Fig.1 Organic Structure of Coal

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Fig.2 Langmuir Isotherm

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Thermogenic gas moved up-dip

Biogenic gas migrated up -dip

Fig.3 Gas Migration

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Fig.4 Saturated Reservoir converting to Under-saturated Reservoir

Fig.5 First Water Production then Gas Production

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Fig.6 Log characters against coal and carbonaceous layers

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Ash Content vs. Density

Density

RHOo

. . .
.

RHOa

Dry Ash Content

Fig.7 Ash content determination from Density

Gas in place formula

GIP = 1359.7 (A) (h) ( Rho B) ( Gc) +
(43,560 (A) (h) ( Por ) (1- Sw) (Bg)
Where:
A = Area
h = thickness
Gc =Gas content
Bg = Gas compressibility factor
First part is for adsorbed gas, second part is for free gas
stored in cleat system (insignificant < 2%)

Fig.8 Density value is a direct input to Gas in Place formula

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M icro log Response

Non-cleated

Fractured or poorly
cleated
Low to fair perm eability

W ellcleated
Good perm eability

T hin laminated coal

Probably som e fracturing
M ost likely low perm eability

Fig.9 Microlog Response in cleated and fractured coal

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ra
ve
A

um
im
ax
M

1.7

en
nt
co
t

t
en

s
ga

1.5

s
ga

t
on
sc
ga
ge

um
im
in
M
nt
co

t
en

Bulk Density (g/c cm)

Gas Content vs. Bulk Density

1.3

20

40
Gas content ( scf / ton)

Fig.10 Gas Content Related to Density

Moisture vs Ash content

V moisture

80
Publ
ishe
d
al
Loc

20
0

20

40

V Ash (%)

Fig.11 Ash Content and Moisture Content Relationship

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V fixed carbon

Ash vs Fixed carbon

60
Loc
al

40

20

Publis
hed

20
V Ash (%)

40

V fixed carbon dry ash free

Fig.12 Carbon Content and Ash Content Relationship

Ash vs Fixed carbon dry ash free

Loc
al

60

d
she
bli
Pu

40

20

20
V Ash (%)

40

Fig.13 Carbon Content and Dry Ash Content Relationship

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