This article, written by Technology Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights of paper SPE 114169, "Coalbed-Methane Pilots: Timing, Design, and Analysis," by R.D. Roadifer, SPE, ConocoPhillips Alaska, and T.R. Moore, CDX Gas, prepared for the 2008 SPE Unconventional Reservoirs Conference, Keystone, Colorado, 10–12 February. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Four distinct, sequential phases form a recommended process for coalbed-methane (CBM) -prospect assessment: initial screening, reconnaissance, pilot testing, and final appraisal. A step-wise approach through these phases provides a program of progressively ramping work and cost, while creating a series of discrete decision points at which analysis of results and risks can be assessed. The focus here is on the third phase, pilot testing, which normally takes place after reconnaissance and before final appraisal. Introduction CBM gas accounts for 9% of US domestic natural-gas production. Its importance to the energy industry has grown dramatically in the past 20 years. CBM production is expected to continue to grow significantly over the next decade, both in the US and internationally. Historically, the CBM opportunity-identification and -evaluation process has taken place in an ad hoc, almost happenstance manner. There is no comprehensive model for planning the exploration and evaluation of a CBM play. Several authors have detailed individual phases of the assessment process for CBM, while touching on assessment process only briefly. The aim of this paper is to develop a consistent approach to evaluating CBM opportunities (i.e., pilot testing). A stepwise phased CBM-prospect-assessment process enables gaining local knowledge early at low cost; progressively acquiring appropriate data to assess the geological situation and reservoir conditions systematically; defining and attempting to fill knowledge gaps that represent risk and uncertainty; increasing understanding of the distributions of key parameters that control reserves, deliverability, and value; and staging expenditures and providing multiple decision points throughout the process. In the initial-screening phase, the broad basin, trend, or play is considered. The scope of investigation is narrowed and knowledge is high-graded to define a play- or lead-scale area of interest. Some sort of acreage position is obtained on that play or lead, enabling the acquisition of hard data on the coal quality and reservoir characteristics by drilling a small number of dispersed reconnaissance core holes. A favorable reconnaissance program provides justification for a CBM exploration pilot test on the prospect. The pilot test serves the same function as a conventional exploration well such that if it proves successful, then the prospect can be considered to be a discovery.