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Estimation of coalbed methane resources using a probabilistic scheme from geological data of coal basin in Mongolia

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Abstract

This study presents a possible coalbed methane (CBM) in place with more accurate estimation from the coal basin data in Mongolia. Mongolia has a big CBM potential expectancy due to the huge amount of coal resources. However, accurate assessments of CBM resources have not been done because of lack of data in the coalbed reservoir. Volumetric and material balance analysis using Monte Carlo simulation was carried out to estimate the resources of CBM in the coal seam. These two analyses produce independent estimates of reserves and original gas in place. The distribution of coal reservoirs and CBM properties were obtained from a similar CBM reservoir in the United States of America, while geological drilling and other data were obtained from the fields in Mongolia. As a result, the total CBM resources of Mongolian five target basins are estimated to be approximately 0.354 TCM as the best estimate (analog with 2P reserve), compared to 0.366 and 0.347 TCM calculated from volumetric and material balance estimate, respectively.

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Abbreviations

\(A\) :

Area, m2

G c :

Gas content, SCM/ton

G p :

Gas production rate, SCM

GIPs :

Gas in place in matrix system, SCM

GIPf :

Gas in place in cleat system, SCM

\(h\) :

Thickness, m

\(OGIP\) :

Original gas in place, SCM

P :

Pressure, kPa

P i :

Initial pressure, kPa

P L :

Langmuir pressure, kPa

S w :

Water saturation

T :

Temperature, K

\(V_{\text{b2}}\) :

Bulk volume of secondary porosity system, m3

V L :

Langmuir volume, SCM/ton

\(z\) :

Gas compressibility factor

z * :

Gas compressibility factor for unconventional reservoir

\(z_{\text{i}}^{*}\) :

Initial gas compressibility factor for unconventional reservoir

α :

Ash content

\(\phi_{\text{m}}\) :

Matrix porosity

\(\phi_{\text{f}}\) :

Cleat porosity

\(\rho_{\text{b}}\) :

Coal density, ton/m3

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Acknowledgment

This work was supported by the Energy Efficiency & Resources of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (No. 20122010300020).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Energy and Resources Engineering, Chonnam National University, 77, Yongbong-Ro, Buk-Gu, Gwangju, 500-757, Korea

    Youngmin Kim, Budzaya Unurbayan & Jeonghwan Lee

Authors
  1. Youngmin Kim
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  2. Budzaya Unurbayan
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  3. Jeonghwan Lee
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Correspondence to Jeonghwan Lee.

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Kim, Y., Unurbayan, B. & Lee, J. Estimation of coalbed methane resources using a probabilistic scheme from geological data of coal basin in Mongolia. Environ Earth Sci 73, 2241–2252 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3573-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-014-3573-2

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