Print this pageABSTRACT: Status of Coalbed Methane Development in Colorado
Carol M. Tremain
Between 1978 and January 1990, approximately 750 drill holes have production tested Upper Cretaceous Colorado coals. The most active area has been the San Juan basin of southwest Colorado and northwest New Mexico where 1000 wells, two-thirds of them in Colorado, have been drilled to test Fruitland coal beds up to 40 ft thick at depths of 2000 to 4000 ft. Initial gas production tests have reached 1600 MCFD in some Colorado wells and have been even higher in New Mexico wells. Other basins are also exhibiting activity with 78 tests in Mesaverde coals of the Piceance basin of northwest Colorado, approximately 70 tests in Raton and Vermejo coals of the Raton basin of southeast Colorado and northeast New Mexico, and 13 tests in Fort Union and Mesaverde coals of the Sand Wash ba in of northwest Colorado. Most Raton basin tests 600 to 5000 ft deep are currently shut-in waiting on pipelines; in the 8 production tests available, gas rates range from 10 to 180 MCFD. Piceance tests range from 0 to 894 MCFD in coals up to 8000 ft deep. Sand Wash basin wells in coals up to 50 ft thick are 5000 ft deep and still await testing.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91002©1990 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section Meeting, Denver, Colorado, September 16-19, 1990