Concurrent In Situ Methods for Measuring Permeability, Gas Content and Saturation

A new core-less testing capability has been developed to provide concurrent measurements of coal seam flow capacity and gas content at in situ conditions. The fluid-based measurement principles are intended to overcome time constraints, accuracy limitations, and cost implications of discrete measurements attributed to traditional off site measurements on core samples. Field trials were conducted with this new service for both coal mine operators and CSG operators. This paper will detail pre-job planning, well site execution, and data analysis for one of these trials, which involved testing several seams across two wells, and will illustrate comparison with data acquired using conventional testing techniques from offset wells. This paper will also highlight key learnings and overall performance, and explain how the lessons can be applied to improve testing efficacy and data quality.