Mining Publication: Measuring Formation Pressures and the Degree of Gas Drainage in a Large Coalbed Gas Drainage Field
Original creation date: January 1985
The Bureau of Mines and United States Steel Corp. are conducting a joint project to monitor formation pressures at a large (23-well) coalbed gas drainage field near Oak Grove, Alabama. Three monitor holes were drilled in late 1981, and pressure monitoring began in December 1981. The Bureau of Mines direct method was used to obtain gas content data from cores taken in the monitor holes. Comparison of the 1981 gas content data from the monitor holes with initial gas content values obtained from the production wells in 1977 indicates a 50-pct reduction in adsorbed gas content inside the pattern and a 29-pct reduction at one point 500 ft outside the pattern. The combination of pressure and gas content data has also allowed an in situ isotherm curve, relating the formation pressure to adsorbed gas content, to be developed for the area of the production wells. From the current rate of pressure decline (1 lbf/in2 per month), the observed changes in gas content, and the isotherm curve, it appears that most of the early gas production came from within the pattern, but since 1981 (and possibly earlier) most of the gas produced has been migrating to the wells from outside the pattern area.
Authors: DC Oyler, PB Stubbs
Report of Investigations - January 1985
NIOSHTIC2 Number: 10004808
Pittsburgh, PA: U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Mines, RI 8986, 1985 Jan; :1-15
See Also
- A CART Technique to Adjust Production from Longwall Coal Operations under Ventilation Constraints
- Coal Mine Methane: A Review of Capture and Utilization Practices with Benefits to Mining Safety and to Greenhouse Gas Reduction
- Degasification System Selection for U.S. Longwall Mines Using an Expert Classification System
- Drainage of Methane From the Overlying Pocahontas No. 4 Coalbed From Workings in the Pocahontas No. 3 Coalbed
- Historical Development of Technologies for Controlling Methane in Underground Coal Mines
- Methane Control by Isolation of a Major Coal Panel - Pittsburgh Coalbed
- Methane Diffusion Parameters for Sized Coal Particles: A Measuring Apparatus and Some Preliminary Results
- Methane Gas Content of the Mary Lee Group of Coalbeds, Jefferson, Tuscaloosa, and Walker Counties, Ala.
- Rotary Drilling Techniques Used in the Beckley Coalbed
- Underground Gob Gas Drainage During Longwall Mining
- Content source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Mining Program