Coal bed methane is found in the impermeable stone and is trapped in the coal seams. A significant portion of this gas remain as free gas in the joints and fractures of the coal seam. Large quantities of gas are adsorbed on the internal surfaces of the micropores within the coal itself
Coal bed methane can be accessed by drilling wells into the coal seam and pumping large quantity of water that saturate the seam. Water will occupy the gaps and pores and will push out the gas.
Problem of coal bed methane extraction :
- It is a capital intensive process and at current state of pricing it is not possible to extract.
- Private sector has no rights to extract unconventional gas reservoir.
- Coal bed methane comes under Ministry of petroleum and coal mines come under ministry of coal. So there is overlapping of jurisdiction which create problems.
- The technology required is very advanced and the public sector companies have very weak organizational setup to efficiently handle such technologies and extract gas economically.
Huge amount of water is required