Amoco Production Co., Gas Research Institute (GRI), and Resource Enterprises Inc. (REI) have begun a joint research project on San Juan basin coalbed methane wells.

The project will compare performance of hydraulically fractured wells with open hole cavity wells in the basin. The companies plan to complete it by August 1991.

REI said Cretaceous Fruitland formation open hole cavity wells in the San Juan basin are producing much more coalbed methane than cased and hydraulically fractured wells in similar geologic zones. The Salt Lake City company reports there is little information to explain the difference in flow rates.

Amoco owns the site and wells on which the research will take place. It will drill wells and provide field operations help.

GRI will fund and manage the project. REI will collect and analyze well data and compile the information to pass on to coalbed methane producers.

PROJECT DETAILS

The research site, called the Completion Optimization and Assessment Laboratory (COAL), is in township 32n-10w on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in La Plata County, Colo.

COAL will study 13 gas wells-seven hydraulically fractured wells with flow rates ranging from 2 Mcfd to 1.4 MMcfd, three open hole cavity wells tested at 1.5-3.5 MMcfd, two observation wells, and a recently drilled open hole cavity well.

REI says the project's main goal is to develop guidelines for open hole coalbed methane completions that will outline reservoir properties required to install successful cavities.

The observation wells will be drilled 200 and 1,000 ft from the open hole cavity well. They will be cored, drillstem tested, and logged.

Project workers will drill the open hole cavity well into the coal seam and test it before they install the cavity to measure near and interwell coal permeability.

Updates and results will be published in GRI's Quarterly Review of Methane from Coal Seams Technology.

Copyright 1990 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.

STUDY OF SAN JUAN COALBED METHANE BEGINS

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