Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Gochioco, L. M. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Recent role of geophysics in U.S. coal and CBM development

GX Technology Corporation, Houston, Texas, U.S.

Corresponding author: lgochioco@gxt.com

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Ten years ago, some major U.S. oil companies began disposing of coal assets and properties because they were deemed not to be part of the core business. Passage of the Clean Air Act Amendment in 1990 kept commodity prices soft, and increasing government regulations likely contributed to their lack of interest. However, when natural gas prices surpassed $5/1000 ft³ and reached an all-time high of about $10/1000 ft³ in 2000, development and production of unconventional natural gas took on a frenzied pace.

Coalbed methane (CBM), once a scourge of mining operations, is now playing a key role in revitalizing the U.S. coal fields, resulting in increased exploration and development activities, even in the once-avoided high-sulfur gassy coal fields of the Appalachian and Illinois Basins. A few coal companies evolved into energy companies by expanding into natural gas production and power generation. Independents who had the foresight to develop their CBM resource since the early 1990s realized high returns on their investments because prospecting for CBM is largely low-cost and low-risk. CBM now accounts for about 7.5% of total domestic natural gas production. A recent U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study indicates the country has more than 700 trillion ft³ CBM in place, with perhaps 100 trillion ft³ economically recoverable with existing technology.

The USGS estimates the United States has about 1.7 trillion tons of identified coal reserves. Because coal quality and recovery techniques vary from one basin to another, the recoverable reserve base is estimated at 286 billion tons. Domestic coal companies have been producing about 990 million metric tons of coal per year over the last five years. At this current rate of mining, the reserve base could last another 290 years. Figure 1 shows the five major coal-producing basins in the conterminous United States.

View larger version (84K): [in this window] [in a new window]   Figure 1. Major coal basins in the . . . [Full Text of this Article]