CBM could account for 20% of Canada’s gas output by 2020

Gary Park

Petroleum News Calgary correspondent

The long-range importance of coalbed methane in Canada’s gas supply picture has been emphasized by an executive with Nexen, who predicts the resource could grow to 1 billion cubic feet per day by 2008 and 3 bcf per day by 2024.

Mike Simpson, coalbed methane manager at Nexen, told a Calgary audience May 27 that Canada is following the trend in the United States, where coalbed methane hit a “steep growth curve over a 15 year period” and is now contributing 4.4 bcf to 4.6 bcf per day to U.S. volumes of 52 bcf per day.

Simpson said that although coalbed methane output is expected to be a mere 100 million cubic feet per day this year, 1,000 coalbed methane wells have been drilled in central Alberta and 100 coalbed methane wells are being licensed each month.

He said the Canadian Gas Potential Committee has projected coalbed methane reserves of 200 to 600 trillion cubic feet in the Western Canada Sedimentary basin, although the bulk of experts believe ultimately recoverable reserves will be in the range of 20 tcf to 100 tcf.

Among the challenges, Simpson said Canada is discovering that the reservoirs are complex and each requires a distinctive approach. “Finding the right technology is the key challenge,” he said.

George Enyon, a natural gas researcher with the Canadian Energy Research Institute, said coalbed methane development is a natural extension of the shallow gas industry in Western Canada because most of the coalbed methane deposits are close to the surface.

He said the rig fleet in Western Canada is dominated by shallow equipment, which is suitable for coalbed methane, thus the industry does not have to make a radical departure from its existing development.