HAMMAD ATTAULLAH NED UNIVERSITY OF ENGG.

& TECHNOLOGY

COAL BED METHANE: AN UNCONVENTIONAL

SOURCE OF NATURAL GAS & ITS PROSPECTS IN
PAKISTAN.
concerns regarding the water produced during
CBM production and also a comparative study
ABSTRACT with the US CBM producing coal fields.
The concept of this paper arose from the
Pakistan’s rising energy needs. Pakistan has the
world’s second largest coal reserves of the INTRODUCTION:
[1]
world which is about 185 billion tons of coal , Increasing fuel prices and shortage compel us to
with energy equivalent to 450 billion barrels of search for more hydrocarbon resources to meet
oil which is the reserves of Saudi-Arabia and the rising energy needs of our country.
Iran put together. An Unconventional natural Presently, Pakistan’s natural gas reserves stands
gas resource which is “Coal-Bed Methane” or up to 28 TCF, the need of hour is to search for
commonly known as CBM exists in the coal beds new reserves of natural gas. For this purpose
or coal seams. Because of its large internal many exploration activities are being carried
surface area, coal stores 6 to 7 times more gas out throughout the country in the promising
than the equivalent rock volume of a fields.
[2]
conventional gas reservoir .
Natural gas produced in Pakistan is from
Its presence in Pakistan is quite promising conventional reservoirs i.e., Sandstone or
because of the lithology of lignite coal present Limestone for example Sui, Adhi, Zamzama etc.
in the coal fields of Thar (175 billion tons), But the unconventional ways include
Lakhra (1.382 billion tons) and Sonda, distt.

Coal-bed Methane,
Thatta (7.112 billion tons); few activities were

Tight Gas Sands,
carried out in Pakistan’s coal fields of in order to

Shale Gas &
recover the gas from the coal seams; but their

Gas Hydrates.
results were not encouraging for the companies
to drill for CBM furthermore. This may be due
to an unpredictable nature of the coal seams in They are regarded unconventional because it
which the CBM exists. technically more challenging to produce and the
reservoir rock is normally not a conventional
This paper will discuss “the prospects of CBM in
reservoir rock.
Pakistan” with emphasis on Thar Coal field
which is understood to be of same age as that is
of India’s Cambay Coal field, presently
producing CBM. Its present scenario in the
world, application of GTL technology for its
easier transportation, the environmental

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HAMMAD ATTAULLAH
WHAT IS COAL BED METHANE
AND HOW IS IT FORMED?
Coal-bed methane (CBM) is a form of natural
gas occurs in coal seams. It is formed during the
conversion of organic material to coal and
becomes trapped in cleats in the coal seam. The
coal bed methane is trapped in the coal seam in
part by water pressure and in part by weak
covalent bonding forces known as Van de Waals
[3]
forces.
In recent years it has become an important
source of energy in United States, Canada and
other countries. Pakistan has one of the world’s
largest coal reserves. There are chances of
presence of CoalBed Methane in the coal seams
of Pakistani coal fields like Thar, Lakhra etc.
CBM is thought to be generated due to three
stages
BIOGENIC:
In this stage, the gas is produced due to
bacterial action especially, during the
conversion of peat to coal.
THERMOGENIC:
Due to increasing overburden pressure and
hence the temperature of coal, which tends
to increase the coal rank, the gas is also
produced.
LATE BIOGENIC
Gas produced due to bacterial action after
maturity of coal.
CBM & CMM
The methane gas found in the minable zones of
coal is known as the Coal-Mine Methane-CMM
generally it is for coal seams up to 300 ft.
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NED UNIVERSITY OF ENGG. & TECHNOLOGY
Whereas, the gas found in coal seams with
depth greater than 300 ft is called as the
CoalBed Methane-CBM.
EXISTENCE OF CBM & COAL
AS AN UNCONVENTIONAL
RESERVOIR
It exists in a coal reservoir as adsorbed gas or
the process of adsorption, a phenomena in
which each individual molecule of gas is bound
by weak dipole forces to solid organic molecules
of coal.
The natural fracture system present in the coal
is known as the cleats. Coal cleats are of two
types: butt cleats and face cleats, which occur
at nearly right angles. This is the main factor
when permeability of a coal is considered.
In conventional hydrocarbon reservoirs, gas lies
above oil, both of which lie over the adjacent
water aquifers. Perforations are selectively
placed to maximize production of hydrocarbons
and reduce the production of water. In contrast,
water penetrates and spread through coal
seams, and water pressure traps any CBM
present.
Therefore during production of CBM it is
necessary to remove water in order to decrease
pressure on the coal matrix, allowing free gas to
flow into the well bore (Figure 1- At the bottom
of the paper). The water is usually saline. Water
production is especially a problem in the early
stages of production, when large amounts of
water are produced to decrease trapping
pressure on the methane.
HAMMAD ATTAULLAH
PRESENT SCENARIO IN
THE WORLD
Countries with large coal resources have
invested in their coal fields In order to search
for the presence of CBM. For example,
countries like US, Canada, and Australia have
started the production of CBM.
US started its production of CBM in mid 80’s
and presently its in-place CBM reserves stands
700 TCF with the technology available today
100 TCF of which is recoverable. CBM’s
production in US is 1.5 TCF/annum which is
actually 10% of its total annual Natural Gas
[4]
Production.
Whereas, Canada has started producing CBM
quite recently with its in place CBM reserves
upto 1258 TCF. And Australia, which actually
started its CBM production in 1998, its present
in-place CBM reserves stands upto 300-500
TCF.
[5]
Whereas, India which has also recently started
its CBM project, but the commercial production
is expected to begin in 2009. India estimates its
in-place CBM reserves to be 2 Trillion m3 (equal
to 70 TCF), which is spread over 56 coal basin
[6]
with cumulative area of 64,000 km2.
Whereas, the worldwide CBM reserves are
estimated to be around 4000-7500 TCF in 69
coal-bearing countries, which have investigated
[4]
for the CBM development. (Figure 2)
CBM-AVAILABILITY AND
COAL-RANK.
The presence of CBM in coal seam becomes
more convincing as the coal-rank is nearer to
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NED UNIVERSITY OF ENGG. & TECHNOLOGY
Bituminous, the farther it is the lesser are the
chances of presence CBM. Coal rank increases
as the overburden over it increases, which
results in an increase in pressure and hence the
temperature which tends to increase the coal’s
rank. So deeper we go into a coal formation
higher is the rank of coal and thus its quality,
thereby increasing chances of CBM’s presence.
But if rank is further more increased then the
probability of finding gas increases as well, but
only till bituminous.
The figure(Figure 3) shows a curve which
signifies that how the gas volume increases with
the rank of coal getting nearer to bituminous,
and how it decreases as the rank get farther.
THAR COAL-FIELD IN A BROAD
VIEW.
Thar, located in the south-eastern side of Sindh
province, is the largest coal-field of Pakistan.
This field covers an area of 9000 km2 and its
estimated coal reserves are 175 billion tons.
The Formation is named as Bara Formation
which is producing coal and it belongs to
Paleocene to Early Eocene age with average
[7]
thickness of 52 meters.
The rank of coal found in the Thar Coal-Field is
mostly between Lignite-B and Sub-Bituminous.
That is the coal of Thar is categorized as low-
rank coal with samples collected so far. Since
the above figure shows that the gas volume and
presence of gas is max. at biltuminous and so
on. So looking at the figure one would say that
there is less probability of finding gas formed at
stage 2. But there probability of finding CBM at
stage-1 (Biogenic stage) is more in low-rank
coal.
[8]
HAMMAD ATTAULLAH
The litholoy of the thar field is shown by this
figure. This figure clearly shows that as we
move towards the eastern side that is towards
the Pak-Indian Border the formation remain
shallow, but as we move towards west that is
more towards the interior Sindh side, the there
is a dip and the formation gets deepen, also it
gets a bit thinner as it deepens. (Figure 4)
Since in past the activities were mostly done in
the areas of eastern side of the Thar area. That
was because the interest of government was
more likely to mine for coal rather than to drill
for CBM. Since the deeper the coal, the lesser it
is reachable to mine therefore lesser is the
interest. But the wells drilled in those areas in
1994 desorbed very little gas. The reason could
be that no proper water removal was done and
also the equipments were primtive, this may be
[8]
because CBM was not the expected guest.
Following figure is a conceptual model of Thar
presented by John SanFilipo which clearly
shows the dip of Thar, which extends as we
move westwards. So as the western part is
deeper hence the coal must be of higher rank,
that have higher probability of having CBM.
COMPARISON OF THAR WITH
GULF COAST BASIN
It is important to note that the lithology of coal
bearing formation of the Gulf Coast Basin near
Texas is the same as that of Bara Formation
(coal bearing formation of Thar). The coal of this
field is also lignite which is low-rank coal.In this
areas methane was desorbed, but in lesser
quantity. Experts predict that in this area if
deeper wells were drilled more amount of gas
could be desorbed.
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NED UNIVERSITY OF ENGG. & TECHNOLOGY
So is the case with Thar deeper wells could lead
to the discovery of CBM.
RECOMMENDATIONS
At the end of the paper followings could be the
recommendations in order to initiate a CBM
development program in Pakistan.
1. Government bodies like GSP, HDIP etc.
must initiate the CBM projects in order
to meet the natural gas needs of
Pakistan.
2. More wells must be drilled in the
western areas of Thar in order to
discover any possible CBM.
3. Interest should be shown not only in
mining for coal rather to drill for CBM.
ACKNOWLEDMENTS
I am very thankful to Mr. Ateeq from GSP, who
has been a Field-Geologist in Thar, for guiding
me referring me a couple of papers. I m also
grateful to Mr. John R. SanFilipo, from USGS,
who explained to me concepts regarding CBM
via e-mail. At last, my friends from NED
University who were a constant source of
motivation for me, especially Muhammad Ibad
Siddiqui.
REFERENCES
[1] Harnessing of Indigenous Coal Resources
Generation: GOVERNMENT OF SINDH, MINES
& MINERAL DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT
(SINDH COAL AUTHORITY).
[2] U.S. Geological Survey : “Energy Resource
Surveys Program”; Fact Sheet No. FS-019-97.
HAMMAD ATTAULLAH NED UNIVERSITY OF ENGG. & TECHNOLOGY

This USGS Fact Sheet can be found at

<URL:http://energy.usgs.gov/factsheets/Coal
bed/coalmeth.html>

[3] Coal Bed Methane: the Past, Present and

Future of Alberta’s Most Abundant Non-
traditional Source of Natural Gas ----By
Casendra brown-University of Alberta.

[4] Vito Nuccio USGS-“Coal-Bed Methane:

Potential and Concerns” USGS Fact Sheet No.
FS–123–00.

[5] “Producing Natural Gas From Coal”-

OilField Review-Autumn 2003

[6] “Progress of Coalbed Methane in India”

Singh, U.P., Coal India, Ltd. Presentation to
North American Coalbed Methane Forum,
November, 2002.

[7] “THAR COAL RESOURCES IN THAR

DESERT, SINDH– PAKISTAN”- Thar
Whitepaper

[8] John R. SanFilipo, - USGS-Open-File Report

00-293.

FIGURES

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