Exploitation Technologies of Coalbed Methane in the Qinshui Basin of China

Resumo

Coalbed methane (CBM) is a new environmentally friendly unconventional energy source of great promise for exploitation. The CBM resources in the Qinshui Basin are as great as 3.97 × 10¹² m³, i.e., 10.8% of the total coal gas resources of China. Compared to the main coal basins of the United States, Australia, Canada, and Russia, the Qinshui Basin is characterized by high metamorphism, high gas content, and low values of porosity and permeability, as well as by low formation pressure. The commercial exploitation of productive beds at the Qinshui Basin requires the use of efficient technologies of stimulation. Vertical wells with hydraulic fracturing (HF) predominate at the Qinshui Basin. The CO₂ injection, electric pulse, multistage HF, etc. technologies are used as well.