China: Terrawest tests CBM well near Urumqi

By OGJ editors
HOUSTON, Apr. 20 – TerraWest Energy Corp., Vancouver, BC, tested coalbed methane at the LHG 10-01 well, the first 2010 pilot production well at the Liuhuanggou project near Urumqi in Xinjiang, northwestern China.

The productive interval is in the Jurassic Xishanyao J2X formation at 611-665 m. The initial flow came from a 31.25-m perforated interval in the J2X No. 14-16 coal seams, including a 16-m thick interval in the No. 14 seam. Gas was flared at an undisclosed rate.

The LHG10-01 well went to 720 m total depth and intersected more than 65 m total thickness of J2X coal seams. The well is 4-5 km west of the LHG08-01 well that produced water and flared CBM in 2009. LHG10-01 was drilled as a pilot production well for the J2X coal seams in the western part of the project area, where coal seams are thick and gas contents relatively high.

The LHG10-02 and LHG10-03 wells, to be tested after spring breakup, will test the Jurassic Badaowan J1B formation including multiple coal seams and gas-bearing surrounding rocks. The combination of multiple coal seams with aggregate 30 m thickness and other potentially productive intervals including shale provides a unique natural gas target of great merit, TerraWest said.

The project covers 163,200 acres in the Junggar basin. TerraWest is operator with 47% interest in the PSC. China United CBM Corp. holds 53%. The PSC defines CBM as all gas stored in four named geologic formations of Jurassic age to a depth of 1,500 m.