The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin contains large quantities of deep coal which can be produced as coal bed methane (CBM) reservoirs. The Mannville Formation of Alberta is an attractive CBM play because of its high gas-in-place potential of 4–10 BCF per section depending on coal seam thickness and gas content. One requirement for enhanced reservoir access and gas production is detailed geological models that highlight the heterogeneity of the coal seams – this provides more insightful understanding of the architecture of the system enabling improved well planning. Here, we describe an ultrarefined Mannville Formation coal bed geological model which was constructed with input data derived from logs, core, core photos, adsorption isotherms, and gas composition analysis. This model reveals the structure of the underground coal beds and shows that they are laterally discontinuous and interbedded between sandstone and shale layers. Since they are subjected to high in-situ stress, low porosity and permeability is observed in these coal seams. The heterogeneity of the coal seams in the Mannville Formation is clear with ‘lenses’ of coal within the domain. These lenses are not fully connected and thus accessing the coal beds to produce gas presents difficulties unless complex trajectory wells and multilateral wells are used.

加拿大西部沉积盆地含有大量可作为煤层气 (CBM) 储层生产的深层煤。阿尔伯塔省的 Mannville 组是一个有吸引力的煤层气开采区，因为它具有每段 4-10 BCF 的高天然气就地潜力，具体取决于煤层厚度和含气量。提高储层通道和天然气产量的一项要求是详细的地质模型，突出煤层的非均质性——这提供了对系统架构的更深入了解，从而能够改进井规划。在这里，我们描述了一个超精制 Mannville 组煤层地质模型，该模型使用来自测井、岩心、岩心照片、吸附等温线和气体成分分析的输入数据构建。该模型揭示了地下煤层的结构，并显示它们横向不连续并在砂岩和页岩层之间互层。由于它们受到高地应力，在这些煤层中观察到低孔隙率和低渗透率。Mannville 组中煤层的非均质性很明显，该区域内有煤的“透镜”。这些透镜没有完全连接，因此除非使用复杂的轨迹井和多边井，否则进入煤层以生产天然气存在困难。Mannville 组中煤层的非均质性很明显，该区域内有煤的“透镜”。这些透镜没有完全连接，因此除非使用复杂的轨迹井和多边井，否则进入煤层以生产天然气存在困难。Mannville 组中煤层的非均质性很明显，该区域内有煤的“透镜”。这些透镜没有完全连接，因此除非使用复杂的轨迹井和多边井，否则进入煤层以生产天然气存在困难。