2023
General information and occurrence
Coal bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in the coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to the draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by a methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and a reduction of concentration of methane to the acceptable level by the ventilation of work areas.
The last years witnessed a development of a technology of draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves the hydro fracturing of coal beds and surrounding rocks and filling up fissures with a permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is a removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in a bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for the start of processes of desorption, emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as the natural gas production from unconventional source.
Deposits of CBM have been documented only in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin and the Lublin Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Basin. Their economic importance is still to be established.
The CBM usage is determined on one hand by the safety issues and on the other hand is treated as collecting the gas from the unconventional sources – due to its form of occurring which demands the application of the special recovery desorptive technologies.
Resources and output
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 65 hard coal deposits in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. These anticipated economic resources amounted in 2023 to 105,995.30 million m3 and decreased by 367.05 million m3 (that is by 0.35%) in comparison with 2022. This drop resulted mainly from: the methane emission from the mine’s airing systems (-460.49 million m3) and picking up the methane by mines (-283.83 million m3). Resources growths resulted mainly from an elaboration of a new documentation (supplement) with recalculated resources for the Zofiówka deposit (resources increased by 112.16 million m3) and an approval of a documentation of a new deposit – Jas-Mos 2 (+39.02 million m3). In 2023, there was 1 CBM deposit documented – as the accompanying raw material (Jas-Mos 2). Not even single one was crossed out from “The balance…”. There was a new documentation (supplement No 5) with recalculated resources approved for the Borynia deposit – prepared for the resources state updating to take into account applicable law, exploitation, better exploration (mine excavations and boreholes), and also to consider the excluding some beds from the deposit and including them in the Zofiówka deposit. For the Jas-Mos 1 deposit there was a supplement No 1 to the geological documentation approved, whereas for the Zofiówka deposit – a supplement No 4. In the case of the Zofiówka deposit, the supplement updated the resources state due to an ongoing exploitation and documentation in the deposit some beds, documented so far in the Borynia deposit. In June 2023, an exploitation concession for the Kaczyce deposit expired, whereas an exploitation from the Wilchwy deposit started.
The majority of anticipated economic resources constitute the resources documented in a C category (97,210.75 million m3 – 91.71%). Resources documented in A and B categories amount only to 8,784.55 million m3 and account for only 8.29% of domestic anticipated economic resources. Anticipated sub-economic resources have been documented in 8 deposits and are equal 9,410.00 million m3, from which 9,314.90 million m3 are resources in the C category (98.99% of the total anticipated sub-economic resources) and only 95.10 million m3 are resources in A and B categories (1.01%).
CBM output amounted in 2023 to 283.83 million m3. This volume covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland and the amount of methane which is being exploited independently – as a self-outflow from the boreholes reaching the cavings of abandoned coal mines. In the case of several deposits (due to the technical capabilities) the emission covers also the methane coming from the low-methane area – it is the part of coal deposit where the methane presence was proved but due to the low content the resources have not been documented. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems presented in table 1 (in documented deposits). It amounted to 460.49 million m3 in 2023.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 32 deposits, are equal 10,536.71 million m3 and decreased by 27.61 million m3 (that means by 0.03%) in comparison with the previous year. The drop resulted from: methane output (-283.83 million m3); including in the registry supplements to deposit development plans for the Knurów deposit (+44.50 million m3) and the Wesoła deposit (+113.95 million m3); more detailed deposits exploration.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in Table 1.
Table 1. List of coal bed methane deposits (CBM) – million m3In the latest edition of The balance of prospective mineral resources of Poland, there was the assessment of exploitable anticipated economic resources of coal bed methane in Poland updated*). The assessment was prepared on the basis of the current obligatory criteria for determining the coal bed methane deposits from the hard coal beds – both as the main raw material and as the accompanying raw material. There were two resources types distinguished: – prognostic resources of the coal bed methane as the accompanying raw material; to this type of resources there were included the resources documented in hard coal deposits in category D, which are not reported in the resources register; – prospective resources of the coal bed methane as the main raw material; to this type of resources all the remaining resources which have not been documented so far were included, without determining the prognostic resources due to the relatively high uncertainty of the resources quantity assessment. The both types of resources were calculated assuming the following parameters: – the minimum coal beds thickness of 0.6 m; – within the borders of deposit area where the coal beds methane-content is ≥4.5 m3/tonne of pure carbon substance; – to the depth of the coal deposit documentation in the case of the accompanying raw material or the depth of 1,500 m in the case of the main raw material. The prospective resources of coal bed methane as the main raw material were assessed below the deposits in which coal bed methane is the accompanying raw material, in the deposits where coal bed methane had not been documented as the accompanying raw material or within the areas which had not been documented. The total prognostic resources of coal bed methane in Poland as of 31.12.2018 amounted to 1.69 billion m3 (only within the USCB area), whereas the prospective resources amounted to 111.27 billion m3 – including 1.75 billion m3 within the LSCB (the Lower Silesian Coal Basin) area, 94.33 billion m3 within the USCB area and 15.19 billion m3 within the LCB (the Lublin Coal Basin) area.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
* Hadro J., Jureczka J., 2020 – ‘Metan z pokładów węgla (coalbed methane)’. In: ‘Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31.12.2018 r.’ (eds. Szamałek K., Szuflicki M., Mizerski W.): 113-119. PIG-PIB, Warszawa [in Polish].
2022
General information and occurrence
Coal bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in the coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to the draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by a methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and a reduction of concentration of methane to the acceptable level by the ventilation of work areas.
The last years witnessed a development of a technology of draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves the hydro fracturing of coal beds and surrounding rocks and filling up fissures with a permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is a removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in a bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for the start of processes of desorption, emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as the natural gas production from unconventional source.
Deposits of CBM have been documented only in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin and the Lublin Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Basin. Their economic importance is still to be established.
The CBM usage is determined on one hand by the safety issues and on the other hand is treated as collecting the gas from the unconventional sources – due to its form of occurring which demands the application of the special recovery desorptive technologies.
Resources and output
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 64 hard coal deposits in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. These anticipated economic resources amounted in 2022 to 106,362.35 million m3 and decreased by 298.59 million m3 (that is by 0.28%) in comparison with 2021. In 2022, there was 1 CBM deposit documented – as the main raw material; – and not even single one was crossed out from ‘The balance…’. There was taken into account a new geological documentation with recalculated resources (supplement No 2) for the Dębieńsko 1 deposit – as the activity within the exploitation concession (valid since 2008) ended. The exploitation has not started, whereas there was 1 borehole drilled and as the result there were new data on methane-bearing capacity obtained. As the result of better exploration of gaseous conditions, the exploitable resources of methane dropped by 329.67 million m3. The Dębieńsko 1 and Krupiński deposits were classified as deposits beyond the areas of hard coal deposits under exploitation. The anticipated economic resources drops were caused by the picking up the methane by mines (−308.57 million m3), the methane emission through the mine’s airing systems (−478.17 million m3) and the resources recalculations. The resources growth were the result of the detailed exploration and resources recalculations.
The majority of anticipated economic resources constitute the resources documented in the C category (97,575.85 million m3 – 91.74%). Resources documented in the A and B categories amount only to 8,786.50 million m3 and account for only 8.26% of domestic anticipated economic resources. Anticipated sub-economic resources have been documented within 8 deposits and are equal 9,410.95 million m3, from which 9,315.85 million m3 are resources in C category (98.99% of the total anticipated sub-economic resources) and only 95.10 million m3 are resources in the A and B categories (1.01%).
CBM output amounted in 2022 to 308.57 million m3. This volume covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland and the amount of methane which is being exploited independently – as a self-outflow from the boreholes reaching the cavings of abandoned coal mines. In the case of several deposits (due to the technical capabilities) the output covers also the amount coming from the low-methane area – it is the part of coal deposit where the methane presence was proved but due to the low content the resources have not been documented. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems presented in table 1 (in documented deposits). It amounted to 478.17 million m3 in 2022.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 33 deposits, are equal 10,564.32 million m3 and decreased by 611.41 million m3 (that means by 5.47%) in comparison with the previous year – mainly due to expiry of the concession for the Dębieńsko 1 deposit. Moreover, in the balance covering 2022, there were new deposit development plans and supplements to existing plans taking into account for the following deposits: Borynia (−1.57 million m3), Jas-Mos 1 (+5.45 million m3), Knurów (+113.86 million m3), Silesia (−34.55 million m3), Staszic (−19.38 million m3) and Szczygłowice (−1.33 million m3). The resources decreases were caused by the output and the emission from the airing systems.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in Table 1.
In the latest edition of The balance of prospective mineral resources of Poland, there was the assessment of exploitable anticipated economic resources of coal bed methane in Poland updated*). The assessment was prepared on the basis of the current obligatory criteria for determining the coal bed methane deposits from the hard coal beds – both as the main raw material and as the accompanying raw material. There were two resources types distinguished: – prognostic resources of the coal bed methane as the accompanying raw material; to this type of resources there were included the resources documented in hard coal deposits in category D, which are not reported in the resources register; – prospective resources of the coal bed methane as the main raw material; to this type of resources all the remaining resources which have not been documented so far were included, without determining the prognostic resources due to the relatively high uncertainty of the resources quantity assessment. The both types of resources were calculated assuming the following parameters: – the minimum coal beds thickness of 0.6 m; – within the borders of deposit area where the coal beds methane-content is ≥4.5 m3/tonne of pure carbon substance; – to the depth of the coal deposit documentation in the case of the accompanying raw material or the depth of 1,500 m in the case of the main raw material. The prospective resources of coal bed methane as the main raw material were assessed below the deposits in which coal bed methane is the accompanying raw material, in the deposits where coal bed methane had not been documented as the accompanying raw material or within the areas which had not been documented. The total prognostic resources of coal bed methane in Poland as of 31.12.2018 amounted to 1.69 billion m3 (only within the USCB area), whereas the prospective resources amounted to 111.27 billion m3 – including 1.75 billion m3 within the LSCB (the Lower Silesian Coal Basin) area, 94.33 billion m3 within the USCB area and 15.19 billion m3 within the LCB (the Lublin Coal Basin) area.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Maciej Młynarczyk, Marcin Tymiński
* Hadro J., Jureczka J., 2020 – ‘Metan z pokładów węgla (coalbed methane)’. In: ‘Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31.12.2018 r.’ (eds. Szamałek K., Szuflicki M., Mizerski W.): 113-119. PIG-PIB, Warszawa [in Polish].
2021
General information and occurrence
Coal bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in the coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to the draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by a methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and a reduction of concentration of methane to the acceptable level by the ventilation of work areas.
The last years witnessed a development of a technology of draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves the hydro fracturing of coal beds and surrounding rocks and filling up fissures with a permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is a removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in a bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for the start of processes of desorption, emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as the natural gas production from unconventional source.
Deposits of CBM have been documented only in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin and the Lublin Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Basin. Their economic importance is still to be established.
The CBM usage is determined on one hand by the safety issues and on the other hand is treated as collecting the gas from the unconventional sources – due to its form of occurring which demands the application of the special recovery desorptive technologies.
Resources and output
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 65 hard coal deposits in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. These anticipated economic resources amounted in 2021 to 106,660.94 million m3 and decreased by 568.31 million m3 (that is by 0.53%) in comparison with 2020. In 2021, there was not any single CBM deposit documented and not even single one was crossed out from ‘The balance…’. There were taken into account new geological documentations (supplements) of deposits of CBM as the raw material accompanying hard coal deposits: Knurów (−184.60 million m3) and Szczygłowice (+65.69 million m3). Except for mentioned above documentations (supplements), the anticipated economic resources drops were caused by the picking up the methane by mines (−286.57 million m3), the methane emission through the mine’s airing systems (−436.10 million m3) and the resources recalculations. The resources growth were the result of the detailed exploration and resources recalculations.
The majority of anticipated economic resources constitute the resources documented in the C category (97,775.56 million m3 – 91.67%). Resources documented in the A and B categories amount only to 8,885.381 million m3 and account for only 8.33% of domestic anticipated economic resources. Anticipated sub-economic resources have been documented within 8 deposits and are equal 9,411.30 million m3, from which 9,316.20 million m3 are resources in C category (98.99% of the total anticipated sub-economic resources) and only 95.10 million m3 are resources in the A and B categories (1.01%).
CBM output amounted in 2021 to 286.57 million m3. This volume covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland and the amount of methane which is being exploited independently – as a self-outflow from the boreholes reaching the cavings of abandoned coal mines. In the case of several deposits (due to the technical capabilities) the output covers also the amount coming from the low-methane area – it is the part of coal deposit where the methane presence was proved but due to the low content the resources have not been documented. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems presented in table 1 (in documented deposits). It amounted to 436.10 million m3 in 2021.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 34 deposits, are equal 11,175.73 million m3 and decreased by 177.17 million m3 (that means by 1.56%) in comparison with the previous year. In the balance covering 2021, there were new deposit development plans and supplements to existing plans taking into account for the following deposits: Borynia (−2.13 million m3), Brzezinka 3 (+63.82 million m3), Bzie-Dębina 2 – Zachód (−19.25 million m3), Chwałowice 1 (−9.74 million m3), Haemba (−0.78 million m3), Halemba II (−3.84 million m3), Jankowice (−3.55 million m3), Marcel 1 (+10.74 million m3) and Silesia (−42.37 million m3). The resources decreases were caused by the output and the emission from the airing systems.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in Table 1.
In the latest edition of The balance of prospective mineral resources of Poland, there was the assessment of exploitable anticipated economic resources of coal bed methane in Poland updated*). The assessment was prepared on the basis of the current obligatory criteria for determining the coal bed methane deposits from the hard coal beds – both as the main raw material and as the accompanying raw material. There were two resources types distinguished: – prognostic resources of the coal bed methane as the accompanying raw material; to this type of resources there were included the resources documented in hard coal deposits in category D, which are not reported in the resources register; – prospective resources of the coal bed methane as the main raw material; to this type of resources all the remaining resources which have not been documented so far were included, without determining the prognostic resources due to the relatively high uncertainty of the resources quantity assessment. The both types of resources were calculated assuming the following parameters: – the minimum coal beds thickness of 0.6 m; – within the borders of deposit area where the coal beds methane-content is ≥4.5 m3/tonne of pure carbon substance; – to the depth of the coal deposit documentation in the case of the accompanying raw material or the depth of 1,500 m in the case of the main raw material. The prospective resources of coal bed methane as the main raw material were assessed below the deposits in which coal bed methane is the accompanying raw material, in the deposits where coal bed methane had not been documented as the accompanying raw material or within the areas which had not been documented. The total prognostic resources of coal bed methane in Poland as of 31.12.2018 amounted to 1.69 billion m3 (only within the USCB area), whereas the prospective resources amounted to 111.27 billion m3 – including 1.75 billion m3 within the LSCB (the Lower Silesian Coal Basin) area, 94.33 billion m3 within the USCB area and 15.19 billion m3 within the LCB (the Lublin Coal Basin) area.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
* Hadro J., Jureczka J., 2020 – ‘Metan z pokładów węgla (coalbed methane)’. In: ‘Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31.12.2018 r.’ (eds. Szamałek K., Szuflicki M., Mizerski W.): 113-119. PIG-PIB, Warszawa [in Polish].
2020
General information and occurrence
Coal bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in the coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to the draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by a methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and a reduction of concentration of methane to the acceptable level by the ventilation of work areas.
The last years witnessed a development of a technology of draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves the hydrofracturing of coal beds and surrounding rocks and filling up fissures with a permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is a removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in a bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for the start of processes of desorption, emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as the natural gas production from unconventional source.
Deposits of CBM have been documented only in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin and the Lublin Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Basin. Their economic importance is still to be established.
The CBM usage is determined on one hand by the safety issues and on the other hand is treated as collecting the gas from the unconventional sources – due to its form of occurring which demands the application of the special recovery desorptive technologies.
Resources and output
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 65 hard coal deposits in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. These anticipated economic resources amounted in 2020 to 107,229.25 million m3 and decreased by 2,319.28 million m3 (that is by 2.12%) in comparison with 2019. In 2020, there was not any single CBM deposit documented. Within the areas of hard coal exploitation, there was 1 deposit allocated – Śmiłowice from which the exploitation started. There were taken into account new geological documentations of deposits of CBM as the raw material accompanying hard coal deposits: Marcel (−107.80 million m3) and Rydułtowy (−437.66 million m3). These documentations were elaborated as a result of Marcel 1 and Rydułtowy 1 deposits assignation. In the hard coal resources remained in Marcel and Rydułtowy deposits methane resources have not been documented, therefore the deposits were crossed out from ‘The balance…’. In the case of Marcel deposit it was stated that coal beds are not methane-bearing and the coal resources are located above the methane zone top. In the light of the applicable rules, methane occurring in this part of the deposit did not match the balancing criteria so could not have been considered as the accompanying raw material. Speaking of Rydułtowy deposit, there were two main reasons for not documenting the methane resources as the accompanying raw material: – the minor amount of methane; – the irregular spread in the deposit of the methane-bearing values exceeding 2.5 m3 CH4/Mg csw. Aside from the documentations mentioned above, the anticipated economic resources drops were caused by the picking up the methane by mines (−315.09 million m3), the methane emission through the mine’s airing systems (−449.48 million m3) and the resources recalculations. The resources growth were the result of the detailed exploration and resources recalculations.
The majority of anticipated economic resources constitute the resources documented in the C category (98,561.34 million m3 – 91.92%). Resources documented in A and B categories amount only to 8,667.91 million m3 and account for only 8.08% of domestic anticipated economic resources. Anticipated sub-economic resources have been documented within 8 deposits and are equal 9,411.45 million m3, from which 9,316.35 million m3 are resources in C category (98.99% of the total anticipated sub-economic resources) and only 95.10 million m3 are resources in A and B categories (1.01%).
CBM output amounted in 2020 to 315.09 millionm3. This figure covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland and the amount of methane which is being exploited independently – as a self-outflow from the boreholes reaching the cavings of abandoned coal mines. In the case of several deposits (due to the technical capabilities) the output covers also the amount coming from the low-methane area – it is the part of coal deposit where the methane presence was proved but due to the low content the resources have not been documented. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems presented in table 1 (in documented deposits). It amounted to 451.54 million m3 in 2020.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 33 deposits, are equal 11,352.90 million m3 and increased by 921.42 million m3 (that means by 8.83%) in comparison with the previous year. In the balance covering 2020, there were the new deposit development plans and supplements to existing plans taking into account for the following deposits: Budryk (+116.20 million m3), Halemba (−3.80 million m3), Halemba II (+173.11 million m3), Murcki (+194.17 million m3), Pniówek (+304.44 million m3), Sośnica (−31.48 million m3), Staszic (+278.12 million m3), Szczygłowice (−56.42 million m3), Śmiłowice (+121.72 million m3), Wesoła (−22.58 million m3), Zabrze-Bielszowice (−1.33 million m3). In the case of Ziemowit deposit, the deposit development plan did not affect the resources volume. The resources decreases were caused by the output and the emission from the airing systems.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in Table 1.
In the latest edition of The balance of prospective mineral resources of Poland, there was the assessment of exploitable anticipated economic resources of coal bed methane in Poland updated*). The assessment was prepared on the basis of the current obligatory criteria for determining the coal bed methane deposits from the hard coal beds – both as the main raw material and as the accompanying raw material. There were two resources types distinguished: – prognostic resources of the coal bed methane as the accompanying raw material; to this type of resources there were included the resources documented in hard coal deposits in category D, which are not reported in the resources register; – prospective resources of the coal bed methane as the main raw material; to this type of resources all the remaining resources which have not been documented so far were included, without determining the prognostic resources due to the relatively high uncertainty of the resources quantity assessment. The both types of resources were calculated assuming the following parameters: – the minimum coal beds thickness of 0.6 m; – within the borders of deposit area where the coal beds methane-content is ≥4.5 m3/tonne of pure carbon substance; – to the depth of the coal deposit documentation in the case of the accompanying raw material or the depth of 1,500 m in the case of the main raw material. The prospective resources of coal bed methane as the main raw material were assessed below the deposits in which coal bed methane is the accompanying raw material, in the deposits where coal bed methane had not been documented as the accompanying raw material or within the areas which had not been documented. The total prognostic resources of coal bed methane in Poland as of 31.12.2018 amounted to 1.69 billion m3 (only within USCB area), whereas the prospective resources amounted to 111.27 billion m3 – including 1.75 billion m3 within LSCB (Lower Silesian Coal Basin) area, 94.33 billion m3 within USCB area and 15.19 billion m3 within LCB (Lublin Coal Basin) area.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
* Hadro J., Jureczka J., 2020 – ‘Metan z pokładów węgla (coalbed methane)’. In: ‘Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31.12.2018 r.’ (eds. Szamałek K., Szuflicki M., Mizerski W.): 113-119. PIG-PIB, Warszawa [in Polish].
2019
General information and occurrence
Coal bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in the coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to the draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by a methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and a reduction of concentration of methane to the acceptable level by the ventilation of work areas.
The last decades witnessed a development of a technology of a draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves the hydrofracturing of coal beds and surrounding rocks and filling up fissures with a permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is a removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in a bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for the start of processes of desorption, emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as the natural gas production from unconventional source.
Deposits of CBM have been documented only in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin and the Lublin Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Basin. Their economic importance is still to be established.
The CBM usage is determined on one hand by the safety issues and on the other hand is treated as collecting the gas from the unconventional sources – due to its form of occurring which demands the application of the special recovery desorptive technology.
Resources and output
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 65 hard coal deposits in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. These anticipated economic resources amounted in 2019 to 109,548.53 million m3 and increased by 7,527.19 million m3 in comparison with 2018. In 2019, there was only 1 new deposit documented beyond the areas of hard coal deposits exploitation – Dankowice 1 (+306.65 million m3). Within the areas of hard coal exploitation, there were 3 deposits allocated: Jas-Mos 1, Marcel 1 and Rydułtowy 1, from which the exploitation started. On the other hand, such deposits as: Anna 1, Marcel and Rydułtowy, were moved to the group of deposits beyond the areas of hard coal exploitation. There were new documentations with recalculated resources approved for the following deposits: Jankowice-Wschód (−2.36 million m3), Lędziny (CBM as the accompanying raw material in hard coal deposit: −660.18 million m3), Lędziny (CBM as the main raw material in the deposit: −6,588.09 million m3), Murcki (+6,327.26 million m3), Śmiłowice (−674.31 million m3), Wesoła (+4,704.42 million m3), Zabrze-Bielszowice (+269.22 million m3) and Ziemowit (+4,471.23 million m3). The resources drops were also the result of the picking up the methane by mines (−336.06 million m3) and the emissions through the mine’s airing systems (−471.26 million m3), whereas the growths were caused by the more detailed exploration and resources recalculation.
The majority of anticipated economic resources constitute the resources documented in the C category (100,718.65 million m3 – 91.94%). Resources documented in A and B categories amount only to 8,829.88 million m3 and account for only 8.06% of domestic anticipated economic resources. Anticipated sub-economic resources have been documented within 8 deposits and are equal 9,411.45 million m3, from which 9,316.35 million m3 are resources in C category (98.99% of the total anticipated sub-economic resources) and only 95.10 million m3 are resources in A and B categories (1.01%).
CBM output amounted in 2019 to 336.06 million m3. This figure covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland and the amount of methane which is being exploited independently – as a self-outflow from the boreholes reaching the cavings of abandoned coal mines. In the case of several deposits (due to the technical capabilities) the output covers also the amount coming from the low-methane area – it is the part of coal deposit where the methane presence was proved but due to the low content the resources have not been documented. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems presented in table 1 (in documented deposits). It amounted to 471.26 million m3 in 2019.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 33 deposits, are equal 10,431.48 million m3 and increased by 3,991.75 million m3 (that means by 61.99%) in comparison with the previous year. In the balance covering 2019, there were the new mine management plans and supplements to existing plans taking into account for the following deposits: Bzie-Dębina 1 – Zachód (+94.83 million m3), Chudów-Paniowy 1 (+133.50 million m3), Jankowice (+97.26 million m3), Jas-Mos 1 (+4.75 million m3), Knurów (+193.76 million m3), Marcel 1 (+53.76 million m3), Murcki (+3.67 million m3), Rydułtowy (+9.01 million m3), Rydułtowy 1 (+195.87 million m3), Silesia (+371.87 million m3), Sośnica (+639.41 million m3), Staszic (−34.00 million m3), Wesoła (+261.90 million m3), Zabrze-Bielszowice (+59.64 million m3), Ziemowit (+1,879.40 million m3). Moreover, for Mszana deposit, there was the geological-investing documentation approved establishing the economic resources (+52.96 million m3). The resources decreases were caused by the output and the emission from the airing systems.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in Table 1.
In the latest edition of The balance of prospective mineral resources of Poland, there was the assessment of exploitable anticipated economic resources of coal bed methane in Poland updated*). The assessment was prepared on the basis of the current obligatory criteria for determining the coal bed methane deposits from the hard coal beds – both as the main raw material and as the accompanying raw material. There were two resources types distinguished: – prognostic resources of the coal bed methane as the accompanying raw material; to this type of resources there were included the resources documented in hard coal deposits in category D, which are not reported in the resources register; – prospective resources of the coal bed methane as the main raw material; to this type of resources all the remaining resources which have not been documented so far were included, without determining the prognostic resources due to the relatively high uncertainty of the resources quantity assessment. The both types of resources were calculated assuming the following parameters: – the minimum coal beds thickness of 0.6 m; – within the borders of deposit area where the coal beds methane-content is ≥4.5 m3/tonne of pure carbon substance; – to the depth of the coal deposit documentation in the case of the accompanying raw material or the depth of 1,500 m in the case of the main raw material. The prospective resources of coal bed methane as the main raw material were assessed below the deposits in which coal bed methane is the accompanying raw material, in the deposits where coal bed methane had not been documented as the accompanying raw material or within the areas which had not been documented. The total prognostic resources of coal bed methane in Poland as of 31.12.2018 amounted to 1.69 billion m3 (only within USCB area), whereas the prospective resources amounted to 111.27 billion m3 – including 1.75 billion m3 within LSCB (Lower Silesian Coal Basin) area, 94.33 billion m3 within USCB area and 15.19 billion m3 within LCB (Lublin Coal Basin) area.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
* Hadro J., Jureczka J., 2020 – ‘Metan z pokładów węgla (coalbed methane)’. In: ‘Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31.12.2018 r.’ (eds. Szamałek K., Szuflicki M., Mizerski W.): 113-119. PIG-PIB, Warszawa.
2018
Coal bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in the coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to the draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by a methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and a reduction of concentration of methane to the acceptable level by the ventilation of work areas.
The last decades witnessed a development of a technology of a draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves the hydrofracturing of coal beds and surrounding rocks and filling up fissures with a permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is a removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in a bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for the start of processes of desorption, emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as the natural gas production from unconventional source.
CBM has been documented only in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin and the Lublin Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Basin. Their economic importance is still to be established.
The CBM usage is determined on one hand by the safety issues and on the other hand is treated as collecting the gas from the unconventional sources – due to its form of occurring which demands the application of the special recovery desorptive technology.
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 65 hard coal deposits in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. These anticipated economic resources amounted in 2018 to 102,021.34 million m3 and increased by 5,073.67 million m3 in comparison with 2017. There were 3 new deposits documented in 2018, beyond the areas of hard coal deposits exploitation – Jas-Mos 1 (+107.96 million m3), Makoszowy (+446.13 million m3) and Śląsk-Pole Panewnickie (+231.10 million m3). There were new documentations with recalculated resources approved for: Krupiński (−19.75 million m3), Pniówek (+2,649.65 million m3) and Sośnica (+1,644.30 million m3) deposits. In the case of hard coal and coal-bed methane Jas-Mos deposit, there was a new documentation with recalculated resources approved which aimed to settle the resources after the allocation a new deposit – Jas-Mos 1. Within the current deposit borders the resources of coal-bed methane have not been documented, thus the coal-bed methane Jas-Mos deposit was crossed out from ‘The balance…’ (−46.12 million m3). The resources drops were also caused by the picking up the methane by mines (−320.94 million m3) and the emissions (−541.65 million m3), whereas the growths were the result of the more detailed exploration and resources recalculation.
The majority of anticipated economic resources constitute the resources documented in the C category (92,764.34 million m3 – 90.93%). Resources documented in A and B categories amount only to 9,257.00 million m3 and account for only 9.07% of domestic anticipated economic resources. Anticipated sub-economic resources have been documented within 8 deposits and are equal 11,410.12 million m3, from which 11,315.02 million m3 are resources in C category (99.17% of the total anticipated sub-economic resources) and only 95.10 million m3 are resources in A and B categories (0.83%).
CBM output amounted in 2018 to 320.94 million m3. This figure covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland and the amount of methane which is being exploited independently – as a self-outflow from the boreholes reaching the cavings of abandoned coal mines. In the case of several deposits (due to the technical capabilities) the output covers also the amount coming from the low-methane area – it is the part of coal deposit where the methane presence was proved but due to the low content the resources have not been documented. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems presented in Table 1 (in documented deposits). It amounted to 541.65 million m3 in 2018.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 27 coal deposits, are equal 6,439.73 million m3 and increased by 748.41 million m3 in comparison with the previous year. In 2018 there were new mine management plans with recalculated resources prepared for: Budryk (+960.09 million m3), Staszic (−5.86 million m3) and Zofiówka (+6.62 million m3) deposits. The resources decreases were caused by the output and the emission from the airing systems.
The USCB is characterized by the highest potential of CBM deposits concentrations. Prognostic and perspective resources of coal bed methane in USCB amounted to 107 billion m3 as of 31.12.2009*. Perspective resources in LCB and LSCB are much lower and amounted to about 15 billion m3 and 1.75 billion m3 respectively.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in Table 1.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
*Kwarciński J., 2011 – Metan z pokładów węgla kamiennego. In: Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31 XII 2009 r. (ed. S. Wołkowicz, T. Smakowski, S. Speczik): 63-70. PIG-PIB, Warszawa.
2017
Coal bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in the coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to the draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by a methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and a reduction of concentration of methane to the acceptable level by the ventilation of work areas.
The last decades witnessed a development of a technology of a draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves the hydrofracturing of coal beds and surrounding rocks and filling up fissures with a permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is a removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in a bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for the start of processes of desorption, emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as the natural gas production from unconventional source.
CBM has been documented only in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin and the Lublin Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Basin. Their economic importance is still to be established.
The CBM usage is determined on one hand by the safety issues and on the other hand is treated as collecting the gas from the unconventional sources – due to its form of occurring which demands the application of the special recovery desorptive technology.
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 62 hard coal deposits in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. These anticipated economic resources amounted in 2017 to 96,947.67 million m3 and increased by 993.86 million m3 in comparison with 2016. There was 1 new deposit documented in 2017, beyond the areas of hard coal deposits exploitation – Rydułtowy 1 (+510.51 million m3). There were new documentations with recalculated resources approved for: Budryk (−763.34 million m3) and Zofiówka (+1,341.81 million m3) deposits. The resources drops were also caused by the picking up by mines (−332.14 million m3) and the emissions (−545.79 million m3), whereas the growths were the result of the more detailed exploration and resources recalculation.
The majority of anticipated economic resources constitute the resources documented in a C category (87,201.06 million m3 – 89.95%). Resources documented in A and B categories amount only to 9,746.61 million m3 and account for 10.05% of domestic anticipated economic resources. Anticipated sub-economic resources have been documented in 8 deposits and are equal 11,411.53 million m3, from which 11,316.43 million m3 are resources in C category (99.17% of the total anticipated sub-economic resources) and only 95.10 million m3 are resources in A and B categories (0.83%).
CBM output amounted to 332.14 million m3 in 2017. This figure covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland and the amount of methane which is being exploited independently – as a self-outflow from the boreholes reaching the cavings of abandoned coal mines. In the case of several deposits (due to the technical capabilities) the output covers also the amount coming from the low-methane area – it is the part of coal deposit where the methane presence was proved but due to the low content the resources have not been documented. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems presented in Table 1 (in documented deposits). It amounted to 543.04 million m3 in 2017.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 29 coal deposits, are equal 5,691.32 million m3 and decreased by 161.54 million m3. In 2017 there were new mine management plans with recalculated resources prepared for: Borynia, Chudów-Paniowy 1, Halemba, Jankowice, Knurów, Marcel, Staszic, Szczygłowice, Wesoła and Zabrze-Bielszowice deposits. The resources decrease was caused by the output and the emission from the airing systems.
The USCB is characterized by the highest potential of CBM deposits concentrations. Prognostic and perspective resources of coal bed methane in USCB amounted to 107 billion m3 as of 31.12.2009*. Perspective resources in LCB and LSCB are much lower and amounted to about 15 billion m3 and 1.75 billion m3 respectively.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in Table 1.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
*Kwarciński J., 2011 – Metan z pokładów węgla kamiennego. In: Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31 XII 2009 r. (ed. S. Wołkowicz, T. Smakowski, S. Speczik): 63-70. PIG-PIB, Warszawa.
2016
Coal bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in the coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by a methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and a reduction of concentration of methane to acceptable level by ventilation of work areas.
The last decades witnessed development of a technology of draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves hydrofracturing of coal beds and surrounding rock and filling up fissures with permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is a removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in a bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for start of processes of desorption, emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as natural gas production from unconventional source.
CBM occurs in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, especially those from its southern and western parts. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. Economic importance of CBM occurrences in the Lublin Coal Basin is still to be established. Concentration of natural gas in the areas of planned exploitation of coal deposits appears to be of negligible economic value whereas CBM accumulations matching economic criteria are expected in the case of deeper-seated coal fields as for example in the Dorohucza syncline.
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 63 exploited hard coal deposits in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. These anticipated economic resources amounted in 2016 to 95,953.81 million m3 and increased by 5,180.97 million m3 in comparison with the previous year. There were four new deposits documented in 2016: 1 documented within the area of hard coal deposits exploitation – Chwałowice 1 deposit (with anticipated economic resources equal 986.54 million m3); 2 documented beyond the areas of hard coal deposits exploitation – Anna (+41.92 million m3) and Marcel 1 (+209.13 million m3) and 1 with the coal bed methane as the main raw material – Wilchwy (+57.17 million m3). There were new documentations with recalculated resources approved for: Rydułtowy (+144.60 million m3) and Szczygłowice (+4,251.25 million m3). There were two deposits crossed out from ‘The balance…’: Chwałowice (−319.44 million m3) and Wujek-część Stara Ligota (−12.77 million m3). Other resources drops were caused by the picking up by mines and the emission.
The majority of anticipated economic resources constitute the resources documented in C category (87,004.34 million m3 – 90.67%). Resources documented in A and B categories amount only to 8,949.47 million m3 and account for 9.33% of domestic anticipated economic resources. Anticipated sub-economic resources have been documented within 8 deposits and are equal 11,419.08 million m3, from which 11,323.98 million m3 are resources in C category (99.17% of the total anticipated sub-economic resources) and only 95.10 million m3 are resources in A and B categories (0.83%).
CBM output amounted to 357.09 million m3 in 2016. This figure covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland and the amount of methane which is being exploited independently – as a self-outflow from the boreholes reaching the cavings of abandoned coal mines. In the case of several deposits (due to the technical capabilities) the output covers also the amount coming from the low-methane area – it is the part of coal deposit where the methane presence was proved but due to the low content the resources have not been documented. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems presented in table 1. It amounted to 547.22 million m3 in 2016. The exploitation from Anna 1, Pawłowice 1 and Jankowice-Wschód deposits started in 2016.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 30 developed coal deposits, are equal 5,852.86 million m3 and increased by 34.08 million m3. In 2016 there were new mine management plans with recalculated resources approved for: Anna 1, Halemba II, Rydułtowy, Silesia, Staszic, Szczygłowice, Wieczorek and Ziemowit deposits. The resources decrease was caused by the output and the emission from airing systems.
Prognostic and perspective resources of coal bed methane in USCB amounted to 107 billion m3 as of 31.12.2009*. Perspective resources in LCB and LSCB are much lower and amounted to about 15 billion m3 and 1.75 billion m3 respectively.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in table 1.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
*Kwarciński J., 2011 – Metan z pokładów węgla kamiennego. In: Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31 XII 2009 r. (ed. S. Wołkowicz, T. Smakowski, S. Speczik): 63-70. PIG-PIB, Warszawa.
2015
Coal bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and reduction of concentration of methane to acceptable level by ventilation of work areas.
The last decades witnessed development of a technology of draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves hydrofracturing of coal beds and surrounding rock and filling up fissures with permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for start of processes of desorption and emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as natural gas production from unconventional source.
CBM occurs in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, especially those from its southern and western parts. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. Economic importance of CBM occurrences in the Lublin Coal Basin is still to be established. Concentration of natural gas in areas of planned exploitation of coal deposits appears to be of negligible economic value whereas CBM accumulations matching economic criteria are expected in the case of deeper-seated coal fields as for example in the Dorohucza syncline.
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 60 exploited coal deposits in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. These anticipated economic resources amounted in 2015 to 90.773 billion m3 and increased by 3,972.88 million m3) in comparison with the previous year. There were three new deposits documented in 2015: 1 documented within the area of hard coal deposits exploitation – Pokój deposit (with anticipated sub-economic resources); 2 documented beyond the areas of hard coal deposits exploitation – Studzienice 1 (+1,765.53 million m3) and Żory-Suszec 1 (+35.53 million m3). There were four new documentations with recalculated resources approved for: Borynia (+1,232.42 million m3), Brzeszcze (+726.80 million m3), Halemba II (+1,196.30 million m3) and Śmiłowice (−887.31 million m3). There was also an adjustment of resources prepared for Jankowice deposit (+348.22 million m3). The resources decrease was due to the exploitation and emission.
CBM output amounted to 320.49 million m3 in 2015. This figure covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems. It amounted to 522.62 million m3 in 2015. The exploitation from Bzie Dębina 2 – Zachód deposit started in 2015.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 27 developed coal deposits, are equal 5,818.78 million m3. The resources increased by 207.43 million m3 mainly due to new mine management plans with recalculated resources approved for: Brzeszcze, Bzie Dębina 2 – Zachód and Chwałowice deposits. The resources decrease was caused by the output and emission from airing systems.
Prognostic and perspective resources of coal bed methane in USCB amounted to 107 billion m3 as of 31.12.2009*. Perspective resources in LCB and LSCB are much lower and amounted to about 15 billion m3 and 1.75 billion m3 respectively.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in table 1.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
*Kwarciński J., 2011 – Metan z pokładów węgla kamiennego. In: Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31 XII 2009 r. (ed. S. Wołkowicz, T. Smakowski, S. Speczik): 63-70. PIG-PIB, Warszawa.
2014
Coal-bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and reduction of concentration of methane to acceptable level by ventilation of work areas.
The last decades witnessed development of a technology of draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves hydrofracturing of coal beds and surrounding rock and filling up fissures with permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for start of processes of desorption and emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as natural gas production from unconventional source.
CBM occurs in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, especially those from its southern and western parts. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Basin. Economic importance of CBM occurrences in the Lublin Coal Basin is still to be established. Concentration of natural gas in areas of planned exploitation of coal deposits appears to be of negligible economic value whereas CBM accumulations matching economic criteria are expected in the case of deeper-seated coal fields as for example in the Dorohucza syncline.
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 58 exploited coal deposits in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. These anticipated economic resources amounted in 2014 to 86.8 billion m3 and increased by 1,367 million m3 in comparison with the previous year. There were five new coal and methan deposits documented in 2014: Barbara-Chorzów 2 (+25.33 million m3), Brzezinka 3 (+134.05 million m3), Bzie Dębina 2 (+645.72 million m3) – all of them with CBM as co-occuring raw material; Jankowice-Wschód and Mszana (+57.40 million m3) – with CBM as the main raw material. The first three deposits were allocated from Barbara-Chorzów, Brzezinka-2 and Bzie Dębina 1 deposits, therefore the resources if these deposits decreased. Barbara-Chorzów deposit was crossed out of the ‘Balance…’. There were also new calculations of resources accepted for Jankowice and Knurów deposits – with resources increase for the latter one to 1,768.28 million m3.
CBM output amounted to 293.4 million m3 in 2014. This figure covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems. It amounted to 471.17 million m3 in 2014. The exploitation from Knurów deposit started in 2014 whereas the output was stopped in Silesia Głęboka deposit.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 26 developed coal deposits, are equal 5,611.35 million m3. The resources decreased mainly due to the output and ambition from airing systems.
Prognostic and perspective resources of coal bed methane in USCB amounted to 107 billion m3 as of 31.12.2009(1). Perspective resources in LCB and LSCB are much lower and amounted to about 15 billion m3 and 1.75 billion m3 respectively.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in table 1.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
(1)Kwarciński J., 2011 – Metan z pokładów węgla kamiennego. In: Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31 XII 2009 r. (ed. S. Wołkowicz, T. Smakowski, S. Speczik): 63-70. PIG-PIB, Warszawa.
2013
Coal-bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and reduction of concentration of methane to acceptable level by ventilation of work areas.
The last decades witnessed development of a technology of draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves hydrofracturing of coal beds and surrounding rock and filling up fissures with permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for start of processes of desorption and emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as natural gas production from unconventional source.
CBM occurs in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, especially those from its southern and western parts. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Basin. Economic importance of CBM occurrences in the Lublin Coal Basin is still to be established. Concentration of natural gas in areas of planned exploitation of coal deposits appears to be of negligible economic value whereas CBM accumulations matching economic criteria are expected in the case of deeper-seated coal fields as for example in the Dorohucza syncline.
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 53 exploited coal deposits in the area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. There were two new coal and methane deposits documented in 2013: Anna 1 and Śmiłowice. Recoverable resources of CBM, that is resources for which there are economic incentives for production, were estimated at 85.4 billion m3. That amount comprises 39.5 billion m3 of CBM in areas of exploited coal deposits (31 deposits), 19.9 billion m3 beyond the areas of exploited coal deposits (14 deposits) and 26.0 billion m3 in deposits where methane is the main raw material (8 deposits). The resources decreased by 2.18 billion m3 in comparison with the previous year. It was mainly due to the new documentation approved for Paniowy-Mikołów-Panewniki deposit (with recalculated resources).
CBM output amounted to 274.21 million m3 in 2013. This figure covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems. It amounted to 456.98 million m3 in 2013.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 26 developed coal deposits, are equal 6,913.92 billion m3. The resources increased mainly due to the new mine management plan approved for Krupiński deposit.
Prognostic and perspective resources of coal bed methane in USCB amounted to 107 billion m3 as of 31.12.2009(1). Perspective resources in LCB and LSCB are much lower and amounted to about 15 billion m3 and 1.75 billion m3 respectively.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in table 1.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
(1) J. Kwarciński, 2011 – ‘Metan pokładów węgla’ in ‘Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31 XII 2009 r.’ pod red. S. Wołkowicza, T. Smakowskiego, S. Speczika. PIG-PIB Warszawa.
2012
Coal-bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and reduction of concentration of methane to acceptable level by ventilation of work areas.
The last decades witnessed development of a technology of draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves hydrofracturing of coal beds and surrounding rock and filling up fissures with permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for start of processes of desorption and emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as natural gas production from unconventional source.
CBM occurs in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, especially those from its southern and western parts. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Basin. Economic importance of CBM occurrences in the Lublin Coal Basin is still to be established. Concentration of natural gas in areas of planned exploitation of coal deposits appears to be of negligible economic value whereas CBM accumulations matching economic criteria are expected in the case of deeper-seated coal fields as for example in the Dorohucza syncline.
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 51 exploited coal fields in area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. Recoverable resources of CBM, that is resources for which there are economic incentives for production, were estimated at 87.6 billion m3. That amount comprises 39.3 billion m3 of CBM in areas of exploited coal fields (30 deposits), 16.1 billion m3 beyond the areas of exploited coal fields (13 deposits) and 32.2 billion m3 in deposits where methane is the main raw material (8 deposits). The resources decreased by 1.52 billion m3 in comparison with the previous year. There were four deposits crossed out of ‘The balance…’: Anna-Pole Południowe, Ćwiklice, Silesia-Dankowice-Jawiszowice and Studzienice. The only new one is Morcinek 1 deposit – allocated from the Morcinek deposit. There was significant growth of resources in Krupiński deposit (by 2.02 billion m3) – the new documentation for this deposit was accepted.
CBM output amounted to 277.96 million m3 in 2012. This figure covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems. It amounted to 461.98 million m3 in 2012.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 26 developed coal fields, are equal 6,143.57 billion m3.
Prognostic and perspective resources of coal bed methane in USCB amounted to 107 billion m3 as of 31.12.2009(1). Perspective resources in LCB and LSCB are much lower and amounted to about 15 billion m3 and 1.75 billion m3 respectively.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in table 1.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
(1) J. Kwarciński, 2011 – ‘Metan pokładów węgla’ in ‘Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31 XII 2009 r.’ pod red. S. Wołkowicza, T. Smakowskiego, S. Speczika. PIG-PIB Warszawa.
2011
Coal-bed methane (CBM) is natural gas trapped in coal and occurring in the form of gas particles adsorbed at coal grains. A drop in bed pressure along with mining activities is followed by an increase in coal bed methane desorption and its release from coal and surrounding rocks to work areas of a coal mine. The release of methane is a serious safety concern as it can create an explosive hazard. Therefore, much attention is paid to draining methane from coal beds before and in the course of coal mining. This is achieved by methane capture on advance of longwall coalfaces by boreholes drilled in front of the face and reduction of concentration of methane to acceptable level by ventilation of work areas.
The last decades witnessed development of a technology of draining methane from coal beds by multiple boreholes drilled from the surface. The technology of drainage involves hydrofracturing of coal beds and surrounding rock and filling up fissures with permeable medium (usually sand) to facilitate migration of CBM released by desorption. The next step is removal of water from coal beds to achieve a drop in bed pressure in the area of a given borehole, necessary for start of processes of desorption and emission and migration of CBM. Draining of CBM by production wells is treated as natural gas production from unconventional source.
CBM occurs in coal deposits of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin, especially those from its southern and western parts. CBM concentrations in coal deposits of the Lower Silesian Coal Basin appear to be much smaller than in the Upper Silesian Basin. Economic importance of CBM occurrences in the Lublin Coal Basin is still to be established. Concentration of natural gas in areas of planned exploitation of coal deposits appears to be of negligible economic value whereas CBM accumulations matching economic criteria are expected in the case of deeper-seated coal fields as for example in the Dorohucza syncline.
The prospecting made it possible to evaluate CBM resources and show the presence of important CBM resources in 55 exploited coal fields in area of the Upper Silesian Coal Basin. Recoverable resources of CBM, that is resources for which there are economic incentives for production, were estimated at 89.1 billion m3. That amount comprises 34.3 billion m3 of CBM in areas of exploited coal fields and 54.8 billion m3 in hitherto undeveloped coal deposits of so-called reserve coal mine fields or in deposits situated at depths over 1,000 m.
In 2011, CBM resources decreased by 0.86 billion m3.
CBM output amounted to 244.8 million m3 in 2011. This figure covers the amount of CBM which is picked up by every hard coal mine in Poland. There is also CBM emitted from the mines airing systems. It amounted to 489.5 million m3 in 2011.
Economic resources of CBM, established for 22 developed coal fields, are equal 5.601 billion m3.
Prognostic and perspective resources of coal bed methane in USCB amounted to 107 billion m3 as of 31.12.2009(1). Perspective resources in LCB and LSCB are much lower and amounted to about 15 billion m3 and 1.75 billion m3 respectively.
List of coal bed methane deposits is presented in table 1.
Prepared by: Agnieszka Malon, Marcin Tymiński
(1) J. Kwarciński, 2011 – ‘Metan pokładów węgla’ w ‘Bilans perspektywicznych zasobów kopalin Polski wg stanu na 31 XII 2009 r.’ pod red. S. Wołkowicza, T. Smakowskiego, S. Speczika. PIG-PIB Warszawa.