Interest in coalbed methane development is growing in Southeast Kansas.
Several operators have completed wells or staked locations for coalbed methane wells near Fredonia in Wilson County and in Jefferson-Sycamore and Neodesha oil fields of Montgomery County, 5-20 miles north of Independence.
Operators include Great Eastern Energy & Development Corp. and Universal Exploration Operating Co., both of Englewood, Colo., and Stroud Oil Properties Inc., Wichita.
The Kansas Corporation Commission issued the state's first two coal seam well classifications under the Natural Gas Policy Act to Stroud late last December.
Coalbed gas wells drilled through Dec. 31, 1990, are eligible to receive a nonconventional fuels tax credit, currently worth about 87/Mcf produced, under Internal Revenue Service regulations on all gas produced through Jan. 1, 2001. Eligibility is subject to other restrictions (OGJ, Oct. 17, 1988, p. 28).
WELLS GAUGED
Stroud's 1 Porter, 2 miles north of Fredonia, flowed 25 Mcfd of gas and 10 b/d of water after a small stimulation from a 6 ft seam at 1,040 ft in the Weir-Pittsburg coal of the Pennsylvanian Cherokee group, said William T. Stoeckinger, an Independence consulting geologist.
Stroud's 1 Miller, in Montgomery County, after 4 months of dewatering kicked off and flowed through 2 3/8 in. tubing at a rate of 55 Mcfd of gas and 125 b/d of water from Weir at 942 ft. Gas rate is rising with dewatering.
One delineation well is being dewatered at 47 Mcfd of gas and 200 b/d of water.
A 1,500 ft well to Cambro-Ordovician Arbuckle is used to dispose of produced water.
A well drilled north of Independence in July 1985 by Zoandra Petroleum Co., Denver, produced a cumulative 127 MMcf of gas through Jan. 1, 1989, from 5 ft of Weir coal and still produces 190 Mcfd of gas, Stoeckinger said.
At the high end of the gas content range of 65-220 cu ft/ton, Weir is one of the gasiest coal seams in the U.S.
As many as six coal seams cover several hundred square miles in Southeast Kansas, Southwest Missouri, and Northeast Oklahoma.
There are many casinghead gas gathering systems in the area, which have produced since completion of Kansas' first commercial oil well in Neodesha field in November 1892.
Gas Research Institute, Chicago, has funded downhole tests to measure Weir permeability and plans to fund an adsorption isotherm measurement.
Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
