Type Curves for Dry CBM Reservoirs With Equilibrium Desorption

The purpose of this work is to model the single-phase radial gas flow in coalbed methane including equilibrium sorption phenomena in the coal matrix and Darcy flow in the natural fracture network. Considering a control volume, the gas desorption rate as a function of time and space is incorporated into the radial continuity equation as a source term. Using Langmuir type sorption isotherm, gas desorption rate is determined at any radius of the reservoir. Introducing the definition of pseudo-pressure and pseudo-time, the resulting continuity equation is converted into the linearized diffusivity equation by modification of total gas compressibility. It is shown how the traditional definition of the material balance pseudo-time is modified for dry CBM reservoirs. With the help of these transformations, the traditional (PTA and RTA) type curves can be employed for analysis of production data of dry CBM reservoirs. The model developed here is validated against Fekete’ s numerical CBM simulator over a wide range of reservoir parameters. In addition, one set of field data from Horseshoe Canyon coals of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin is analyzed using the solution procedure presented in this paper.