Conventionally, proper well spacing and stimulation govern the economic attractiveness of producing natural gas from coalbeds. To provide an analytical foundation for this empirical evidence, reservoir simulation and economic analyses were conducted to gain insights into the optimum well spacing and hydraulic-fracturing treatments in typical "good" and "poor" geologic settings of the Oak Grove field in Alabama. We studied the economic benefit of gel-based fracturing treatments, the optimal well spacing for higher- and lower-permeability settings, and how to establish proper values for permeability and achievable hydraulic-fracture dimensions for optimal well spacing.

Keywords:
asset and portfolio management, coal seam gas, flow in porous media, complex reservoir, coal bed methane, hydraulic fracturing, field development optimization and planning, Fluid Dynamics, methane recovery, optimal
Subjects:
Asset and Portfolio Management, Coal seam gas, Field development optimization and planning, Flow in porous media, Hydraulic Fracturing, Reservoir Fluid Dynamics, Unconventional and Complex Reservoirs
Copyright 1990, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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