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Technology / Can we extract coal bed methane of the North Sea ?
« on: 15/10/2022 21:10:02 »
With the search for oil and gas in the North Sea, significant coal deposits were discovered in this sea (1).
The localization of these deposits in a sea-bed prohibits a traditional exploitation by mine. In situ combustion was considered with an aim of generating a combustible gas mixture easier to extract. But this technique was too polluting.
There is perhaps another resource to consider: the methane adsorbed in the pores of coal. This type of gas is called CBM for Coal Bed Methane (2). Several data could promise a significant and exploitable gas resource:
- the amount of coal present under the North Sea seems significant; the amount of adsorbed methane should be in proportion,
- part of these offshore coal deposits are sufficiently close to the coasts of England to be accessible by terrestrial drillings,
- the technique of horizontal drilling, already used to recover shale gas, can be employed here to extract gas from coal,
- coal is a porous rock, therefore the extraction of gas does not require hydraulic fracturing.
(1) https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/north-sea-ucg/
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalbed_methane#
The localization of these deposits in a sea-bed prohibits a traditional exploitation by mine. In situ combustion was considered with an aim of generating a combustible gas mixture easier to extract. But this technique was too polluting.
There is perhaps another resource to consider: the methane adsorbed in the pores of coal. This type of gas is called CBM for Coal Bed Methane (2). Several data could promise a significant and exploitable gas resource:
- the amount of coal present under the North Sea seems significant; the amount of adsorbed methane should be in proportion,
- part of these offshore coal deposits are sufficiently close to the coasts of England to be accessible by terrestrial drillings,
- the technique of horizontal drilling, already used to recover shale gas, can be employed here to extract gas from coal,
- coal is a porous rock, therefore the extraction of gas does not require hydraulic fracturing.
(1) https://deepresource.wordpress.com/2018/12/18/north-sea-ucg/
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coalbed_methane#