Current status and development direction of coalbed methane exploration technology in China

Coalbed methane(CBM) resources in China are abundant with broad development prospects. After more than 20 years of continuous exploration, great progress has been made in both industry scale and exploration and development technology. In order to further improve the adaptability of CBM development technology and the effectiveness of CBM resources, and promote the rapid development of CBM industry, based on the development status of CBM industry in China, the system combines the current theoretical development and technical status of CBM development in China. Firstly, a new understanding of the theory of CBM occurrence and drainage theory is summarized and proposed. It is concluded that there are two different modes of gas-water occurrence and production in reservoir micro-structure. “Solid-gas system” and “solid-liquid system” are synergistic adsorbed, and the pore water in reservoir matrix has an important influence on gas desorption-transmission. Secondly, combing the new technology of coalbed methane development such as directional well with small curvature radius, staged fracturing of horizontal well, multi-objective optimization control of quantitative drainage, and the main problems faced by CBM development were deeply analyzed. It is pointed out that the future development direction is to continue to strengthen the theory and key technologies to solve the problem, reduce development costs, increase single well production, and achieve efficient development of coalbed methane.