--> ABSTRACT: Coalbed Methane Potential of Germany's Hard Coal Basins, by Thomas G. Fails; #91020 (1995).

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Coalbed Methane Potential of Germany's Hard Coal Basins

Thomas G. Fails

Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom have the greatest potential for coalbed methane (CBM) production in central and western Europe. The German hard coal resource is approximately 600 billion tons.

All three German hard coal basins are of Westphalian (upper Carboniferous) age. The Aachen and Ruhr basin bituminous and anthracite coals were deposited in the Variscan/Appalachian foredeep basin system, extending from Alabama through the British Isles and Germany to the CIS. The small Aachen basin is largely mined-out. Low methane contents characterize the remaining Aachen and western Ruhr basin coals. Substantial in-place methane volumes can be calculated for the unmined portion of the southeastern Ruhr basin. Fifty meters or more of coal are present, but are undesirably deep. Tight sandstones associated with the coalbeds may have productive potential.

Numerous laccustrine bituminous coalbeds, mainly Westphalian C and D in age and deposited in a rapidly subsiding inter-montane basin, characterize the Saar-Nahe basin. About 150 seams occur in a 2400-meter section. Uplift and folding were penecontemporanious with coalbed deposition, and were followed by early Permian overthrusting, heating and volcanism. The deep northeastern basin extension, including the Pfalzer anticline, is unmined. A Denver-based group has been awarded an Exploration Permit there, in Rhineland-Pfalz state. Saarbergwerke AG holds methane rights in Saarland, to the southwest. Methane-in-place volumes, though substantial, are much smaller than in the Ruhr.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91020©1995 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, May 5-8, 1995