Coalbed methane reservoir boundaries and sealing mechanism

It is important to investigate the coalbed methane reservoir boundaries for the classification, exploration, and development of the coalbed methane reservoir.Based on the investigation of the typical coalbed methane reservoirs in the world, the boundaries can be divided into four types: hydrodynamic boundary, air altered boundary,permeability boundary, and fault boundary. Hydrodynamic and air altered boundaries are ubiquitous boundaries for every coalbed methane reservoir. The four types of the fault sealing mechanism in the petroleum geological investigation (diagen- esis, clay smear, juxtaposition and cataclasis) are applied to the fault boundary of the coalbed methane reservoir. The sealing mechanism of the open fault boundary is the same with that of the hydrodynamic sealing boundary.The sealing mechanism of the permeability boundary is firstly classified into capillary pressure sealing and hydrocarbon concentration sealing. There are different controlling boundaries in coalbed methane reservoirs that are in different geological backgrounds. Therefore, the coalbed methane reservoir is diversiform.