The Importance of Tectonic Control in Delineation of CBM Production Sweet Spots in the Donets Basin (Ukraine)

Abstract

The Donets Basin is a major coal-mining district in Ukraine. Coal mines in the Donets Basin are amongst the gassiest in the world. Most of the mines are operated within thrust-bounded domains with abundant occurrence of small-displacement strike-slip tectonic zones. Special attention needs to be given to analysis of local tectonic-and-structural regimes affecting coalbed methane producibility and resource assessments. Permeability patterns and, more specifically, lateral variations of methane content in coal beds are critically dependant upon present stress-state state and spatial distribution of local extensioncompression domains. It has been observed that CBM production sweet spots, which tend to occur at relatively high permeability compartments, are typically structurally controlled by releasing bends or dilation traps located along strike-slip tectonic zones. The presence of fractured reservoir of pull-apart morphology in sandstones of Krasnolimanskaya mine is depicted on the basis of analysis of gravimetric and 3D seismic data.