Coal-bed methane in Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming: Resources, reserves, and production

Conference · Sun Aug 01 00:00:00 EDT 1993 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States)

OSTI ID:6679802

Sommer, S N ^[1]; DeBruin, R H ^[2]; Tremain, C M ^[3]; Whitehead, III, N H ^[4]

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1. Utah Geological Survey, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
2. Geological Survey of Wyoming, Laramie, WY (United States)
3. Colorado Geological Survey, Denver, CO (United States)
4. New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources, Socorro, NM (United States)

Coal-bed methane reserves of 10 tcf, in-place resources up to 250 tcf, and dramatically increased production rates from Cretaceous and Tertiary formations affirm the importance of the Rocky Mountain gas province well into the 21st century. These resources have been calculated for the individual states and basins using a variety of criteria and methods and the resource numbers are not necessarily comparable. The Book Cliffs, Emery, Wastach Plateau, Kaiparowits Plateau, and Sego coal fields in Utah contain a coal-bed methane resource of 10.4 tcf. The Book Cliffs and Emery coal fields contain 8.3 tcf or 80% of this resource. The San Juan basin, New Mexico and Colorado, has 10 tcf (reserves), 40 tcf (resources) in the Fruitland Formation, and 28 tcf (resources) in the Menefee Formation. The Raton basin, Colorado and New Mexico, has 10.2 tcf of resources in the Raton and Vermejo Formations. The Piceance and Sand Wash basins in Colorado have estimated resources of more than 96 tcf. The Powder River, Green River, Hams Fork, Wind River, Hanna, Rock Creek, and Bighorn coal fields in Wyoming have resources of 54.4 tcf. The Powder River, Wind River, Green River, and Hams Fork coal fields contain 87% of this resource. In August, 1992, coal-bed methane production accounted for 49% of all gas produced from the San Juan basin (New Mexico) and 30% of all New Mexico production. For 1991, coal-bed methane production in Colorado from the San Juan and Piceance basins was 16% of all Colorado gas production.

• OSTI ID: 6679802
• Report Number(s): CONF-930947--
• Journal Information: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States), Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States) Vol. 77:8; ISSN 0149-1423; ISSN AABUD2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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FOSSIL FUELS
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