Evaluation of the gas content of coal reservoirs with geophysical logging in Weibei coalbed methane field, southeastern Ordos basin, China

Gas content is one of the most important factors in the process of exploration and development of coalbed methane (CBM). The relationships between gas content and characteristics of geophysical logs have been evaluated for the No. 5 coal seam in Weibei CBM field. It is found that the main well loggings that have good responses for gas contents are the compensating density, natural gamma-ray, compensating neutron, natural spontaneous potential and acoustic. A theoretical model was proposed to calculate the gas content by using these well logging data and as well as the burial depth. The calculated gas contents fits well with the measured data with a small relative-error of 0.38-5.05%. In the model, both tectonic movement intensity and the gas accumulation were taken into consideration.