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Journal of Australian Energy Producers
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Concurrent in-situ measurement of flow capacity, gas content and saturation

Quentin Morgan A , John Pope A and Peter Ramsay A
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WellDog Pty Ltd

The APPEA Journal 53(1) 273-284 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ12023
Published: 2013

Abstract

A new core-less testing capability has been developed to provide concurrent measurements of coal seam flow capacity and gas content at in-situ conditions. The fluid-based measurement principles are intended to overcome time constraints, accuracy limitations, and cost implications of discrete measurements attributed to traditional ex-situ measurements on core samples. Details of measurement principles, associated enabling technologies, and generic test procedures have been disclosed in a previous publication.

In 2012 a number of field trials were conducted with this new service for both coal mine operators and CSG operators. This peer-reviewed paper will detail pre-job planning, well site execution, and data analysis for one of these trials, which involved testing several seams across two wells, and will illustrate comparison with data acquired using conventional testing techniques from offset wells. This peer-reviewed paper will also highlight key learnings and overall performance, and explain how the learned lessons can be applied to improve testing efficacy and data quality.

Quentin Morgan holds an honours degree in nuclear engineering (1982) and a masters degree in petroleum engineering (1983), and is chief technology officer at WellDog. Prior to joining the company in 2011, he spent 28 years working for a number of major international oil and gas service companies, involving permanent secondments to six continents. After a variety of roles in operations, country management, and technology development, Quentin joined Weatherford in 2002, where he held positions as region product line manager for intelligent completions, and then region business unit leader for sandface completions. This culminated in the appointment to technical director for subsurface engineering in 2009.

qmorgan@welldog.com

John Pope, PhD, is president and CEO of WellDog, which he founded in 1999 to apply a new offshore chemical sniffer to geochemical sensing of coal seams. He was appointed by the Governor of Wyoming to the Wyoming CBM Water Use Task Force from 2005-2007, and to the US Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission in 2006. John holds a PhD in physical chemistry from the University of Wyoming, and a BS in physics from the University of Missouri-Rolla. He has worked at Monsanto Chemical Company, and at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology. John holds several issued patents, and has published dozens of technical papers. He presently splits time between Wyoming and Queensland.

jpope@welldog.com

Peter Ramsay is data centre manager at WellDog. He holds a diploma in natural gas and petroleum (1972). Prior to joining the company, Peter spent 35 years working for a major international service company. Progressing through a variety of roles, he was appointed as technical services manager for the open hole DST product line. In this capacity, Peter was responsible for quality control/quality assurance of test data, and the education of internal staff and clients on the aspects of conducting a successful DST.

pramsay@welldog.com