--> Abstract: Coalbed Methane in the United Kingdom, by D. K. Murray and T. G. Fails; #90987 (1993).

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MURRAY, D. KEITH, D., Keith Murray and Associates, Lakewood, CO; and THOMAS G. FAILS, Independent Geologist, Denver, CO

ABSTRACT: Coalbed Methane in the United Kingdom

The Upper Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) coal measures in certaincoal-bearing basins in the United Kingdom (UK) offer good to excellent potential for commercial production of coalbed methane (CBM). In 1991, two Denver-based groups were awarded by the British government the first Landward Petroleum Licenses designed specifically for CBM Exploration. Other groups have followed suit in subsequent licensing rounds. Encouraging results have been reported from early well tests.

The in-place coal resources of the UK have been estimated at more than 170 billion tons to a depth of 1,200 m (3,937 ft). Most of the coals are bituminous to anthracite in rank, well within the window of thermal gas generation. The UK is sixth in the world, and second in Europe, in size of coal resources. The largest coal resources in the UK are in central England (East and West Pennine Basins), with more than 50 percent of the total; followed by the South Wales coal field, with about 16 percent. Westphalian (Silesian) coals were deposited over much of the British Isles, from South Wales and southern England to southern Scotland. During Westphalian time, the Variscan (Appalachian) orogeny folded the thick coal measures in southern England and South Wales. A series of coal-bearing basi s, characterized by significant thicknesses of high-rank coal, were developed along the Variscan northern margin, both north and south of the Wales-Brabant massif, from South Wales eastward to the Ruhr Basin.

The South Wales Basin contains the greatest thickness of high-rank, gassy coals in the UK The coal measures in this basin have been subjected to several episodes of both compressional and extensional tectonism, which should have enhanced the permeability of the coalbed reservoirs. We conclude that this basin presents the highest potential for significant CBM production of any coal field in the United Kingdom.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90987©1993 AAPG Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana, April 25-28, 1993.