A Coal Bed Methane Resource Estimation of the Alberta Basin

Abstract

Alberta contains approximately 6000 gigatonnes of coal ranking from subbituminous to low-volatile bituminous. The authors calculations show the amount of coal bed gas potentially in place is in the order of 73.5 {times} 10{sup 12} m{sup 3} (2.6 {times} 10{sup 15} ft{sup 3}). This is an enormous resource that is being updated continuously as new data become available. Estimates of the maximum coal gas in place for the United States are about 4 {times} 10{sup 14} ft{sup 3}. In the Alberta portion of the Western Canada Sedimentary basin the coals are distributed throughout the foothills and plains regions and range from Jurassic to Tertiary in age. The potential that these coals may generate sufficient gas to be considered a significant commercial fuel source has only been realized in the last several years. Because of the relative infancy of this resource development in Alberta, only limited direct data are available. The coals in Alberta have not been extensively tested for gas content. However, the evaluation of coal bed methane resources are possible through the use of indirect data such as thickness, rank, and depth, as well as proximate analysis to obtain an estimate of the gas content. This paper reviews themore » formations and geographic areas of gas potential and the reasoning used to derive the coal and gas content resource estimates.« less