Alberta can tap clean-burning gas from coal deposits in a way that generates enormous benefits for the province yet still protects the environment, say coalbed methane developers.
Coalbed methane development – just becoming commercial in the province – “is going to generate thousands of jobs and billions in revenue,” predicted Gordon Robinson, vice-president of production for Calgary-based MGV Energy Inc., which started producing coalbed methane last year.
“Coalbed methane is a good news story,” he told the Canadian Institute’s 2nd Annual Coalbed Methane Symposium, held in Calgary last week.
More than 30 pilot projects by Alberta oil and gas companies, including EnCana Corp., Nexen Inc., Burlington Resources Inc., Talisman Energy Inc. and Penn West Petroleum Inc., are under way to develop an estimated 19.5 trillion cubic feet of recoverable coalbed methane in Canada.
MGV Energy drilled more than 200 coalbed methane wells in Alberta during the last two years, and is on pace to drill another 200 this year. In comparison, 51,000 wells – including 39,000 new wells – are planned for Wyoming’s Powder River Basin over the next 10 years.
The U.S. gets about 1.3 trillion cubic feet, or seven per cent a year, of its natural gas from coalbed methane. When properly developed, coalbed methane “is an almost potentially impact-less type of development,” said Mickey Steward, chair of the Calgary symposium and co-ordinator of the Coalbed Methane Co-ordination Commission in Wyoming.
But Jill Robinson, an organizer for the citizens’ Powder River Resource Council, advised Alberta landowners to “be very skeptical of industry’s claims until you see actual data.” Alberta is approving pilot coalbed methane drilling projects without publicly releasing information on issues that are hotly contested in the U.S., Robinson said in an interview from Wyoming.
They include the quality and quantity of underground water produced with the methane gas, how much flaring will be done to test the wells, how many new wells, roads and power lines will be built, and whether toxic chemicals will be used in the wells to stimulate gas flow.
“Albertans already have a lot to worry about with extensive sour and sweet gas development throughout the province,” said Gwen Lachelt, executive director of the citizens’ Oil and Gas Accountability Project in Colorado – where coalbed methane development started in the 1950s.
Adding high-density coalbed methane wells to Alberta’s extensive oil and gas infrastructure “is going to dramatically increase the ‘spider web’ of oil and gas development,” she said from Durango, Colo.
One Alberta group – RADCAP (Rimbey and District Area Clean Air People) in the area northwest of Red Deer – has asked the province for a moratorium on further coalbed methane development until there are environmental assessments and public hearings.
Farmers, ranchers and acreage owners are already concerned about the impacts from conventional oil and gas development, said Steve Kennett, research associate at the Canadian Institute of Resources Law. “What people are concerned about are cumulative effects.”
Bob Willard of Alberta’s Energy and Utilities Board (EUB) said because coalbed methane is natural gas, existing EUB regulations for gas development apply.
Current rules regulate disposal of coalbed methane production water, flaring, environmental assessments for large projects and public consultation, Willard said. “We do not expect a Wyoming story” in Alberta, he added, referring to ongoing conflicts between industry and landowners in the Powder River Basin.
Robinson, of the Powder River Resource Council, said the biggest problem is the tremendous amount of water produced along with the methane gas.
The water is too saline to be used for irrigation and there’s too much of it for livestock to drink.
Robinson, of MGV Energy, noted that companies in Alberta are developing “dry” coal deposits with different geological makeup that produce little water compared with the volumes seen in the Powder River Basin.
Other Alberta coalbeds targeted for methane production will produce saline water that must be injected into deep wells for disposal, he said.
MGV’s more than 200 wells have produced less than 8,000 litres of water, Robinson noted.“Water is really a non-issue in many (coalbed methane) areas of Canada.”
Sharla Rauschning, director of gas operations policy for Alberta Energy, said the government is doing a multi-department internal review, to be followed by public consultation, to see if existing regulations are adequate for coalbed methane development.
This will lead by early 2004 to recommendations on how development will proceed, Rauschning said.
In the meantime, activists Robinson and Lachelt are planning a public speaking tour to Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton in early June.
If Alberta is going to develop the resource, Robinson said, “you’ve got to answer a lot of questions first.”
