Because forecasting a development program during the target selection phase of exploration for coalbed methane （CBM） is impossible, the conventional method that relies on a conceptual （or detailed） development pro...Because forecasting a development program during the target selection phase of exploration for coalbed methane （CBM） is impossible, the conventional method that relies on a conceptual （or detailed） development pro- gram cannot be used during the economic evaluation of CBM resources. Hence, this study focuses on establishing an economic evaluation model based on the characteristics of the target selection phase. The discounted cashflow method is applied to the construction of the model with the assumption that there is a uniform distribution of produc- tion wells. The computational error generated by the assumption is corrected by introducing a correction factor based on the production profile of single CBM wells. The case study demonstrates that the blocks lacking economic value can be screened out, and the most advantageous targets can be found by computing the resource values in the best- and worst-case scenarios. This technique can help to reduce wasted investments and improve the quality of decision-making in selecting targets for exploration.展开更多
基金funded by the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (9144033)the National Social Science Fund for Major Projects (11&ZD164)
文摘Because forecasting a development program during the target selection phase of exploration for coalbed methane （CBM） is impossible, the conventional method that relies on a conceptual （or detailed） development pro- gram cannot be used during the economic evaluation of CBM resources. Hence, this study focuses on establishing an economic evaluation model based on the characteristics of the target selection phase. The discounted cashflow method is applied to the construction of the model with the assumption that there is a uniform distribution of produc- tion wells. The computational error generated by the assumption is corrected by introducing a correction factor based on the production profile of single CBM wells. The case study demonstrates that the blocks lacking economic value can be screened out, and the most advantageous targets can be found by computing the resource values in the best- and worst-case scenarios. This technique can help to reduce wasted investments and improve the quality of decision-making in selecting targets for exploration.
