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Open-File Report 2006-1174

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##### Prepared in cooperation with the Wyoming State Office Reservoir Management Group, Bureau of Land Management Casper, Wyoming

## Gas Desorption and Adsorption Isotherm Studies of Coals in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Adjacent Basins in Wyoming and North Dakota

#### By Gary D. Stricker, Romeo M. Flores, Dwain E. McGarry, Dean P. Stillwell, Daniel J. Hoppe, Cathy R. Stillwell, Alan M. Ochs, Margaret S. Ellis, Karl S. Osvald, Sharon L. Taylor, Marjorie C. Thorvaldson, Michael H. Trippi, Sherry D. Grose, Fred J. Crockett, and Asghar J. Shariff

| *Large File Warning!*Open-File Report PDF (30 MB)                    Right-Click to 'Save As' or 'Download'*Large File Warning!*Open-File Report PDF (30 MB)                  Right-Click to 'Save As' or 'Download'**Introduction**
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the State Office, Reservoir Management Group (RMG), of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Casper (Wyoming), investigated the coalbed methane resources (CBM) in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana, from 1999 to the present. Beginning in late 1999, the study also included the Williston Basin in Montana and North and South Dakota and Green River Basin and Big Horn Basin in Wyoming. The rapid development of CBM (referred to as coalbed natural gas by the BLM) during the early 1990s, and the lack of sufficient data for the BLM to fully assess and manage the resource in the Powder River Basin, in particular, gave impetus to the cooperative program.

An integral part of the joint USGS-BLM project was the participation of 25 gas operators that entered individually into confidential agreements with the USGS, and whose cooperation was essential to the study. The arrangements were for the gas operators to drill and core coal-bed reservoirs at their cost, and for the USGS and BLM personnel to then desorb, analyze, and interpret the coal data with joint funding by the two agencies. Upon completion of analyses by the USGS, the data were to be shared with both the BLM and the gas operator that supplied the core, and then to be released or published 1 yr after the report was submitted to the operator. | Version 1.0

Posted July 2006
-  **Report** PDF (*30 MB)  (This report is accessible as defined in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Amendments of 1998.)  **Downloading Suggestion*It is best to download a large file to your hard drive rather than open it inside your browser. A standard click may automatically open the file inside the browser but doing so will result in a very slow load. Downloading the file may take several moments but will be worth the wait. Once it is downloaded, open it from your hard drive—it will open in a fraction of the time it would take to open over the Internet.   *Downloading SuggestionIt is best to download a large file to your hard drive rather than open it inside your browser. A standard click may automatically open the file inside the browser but doing so will result in a very slow load. Downloading the file may take several moments but will be worth the wait. Once it is downloaded, open it from your hard drive—it will open in a fraction of the time it would take to open over the Internet.  
-  **Appendix 1** PDF (452 KB)  (This appendix is accessible as defined in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Amendments of 1998.)  *Contains:*Figures that show gamma ray or density logs (where available), canister positions, and canister numbers for core holes in this report.  *Contains:*Figures that show gamma ray or density logs (where available), canister positions, and canister numbers for core holes in this report. 
-  **Appendix 2** PDF (1.8 MB)  (This appendix is accessible as defined in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Amendments of 1998.)  *Contains:*Tables that show canister number, name of cored coal, cored interval (canister top and bottom depths), desorbed gas (lost, measured, residual, and total), and ash yield and moisture content of the samples used in desorption tests for this study.  *Contains:*Tables that show canister number, name of cored coal, cored interval (canister top and bottom depths), desorbed gas (lost, measured, residual, and total), and ash yield and moisture content of the samples used in desorption tests for this study. 
-  **Appendix 3** PDF (2 MB)  (This appendix is accessible as defined in Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Amendments of 1998.)  *Contains:*Reports on high-pressure methane adsorption, consisting of figures and tables of data, are taken verbatim from R.M.B. Earth Science Consultants Ltd., Delta, British Columbia, Canada, and have not been edited or reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey standards or nomenclature. The analyzed samples were supplied by the authors. Not all core holes were sampled for high-pressure methane adsorption.  *Contains:*Reports on high-pressure methane adsorption, consisting of figures and tables of data, are taken verbatim from R.M.B. Earth Science Consultants Ltd., Delta, British Columbia, Canada, and have not been edited or reviewed for conformity with U.S. Geological Survey standards or nomenclature. The analyzed samples were supplied by the authors. Not all core holes were sampled for high-pressure methane adsorption. |
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