| Abstrakt: |
Coalbed methane is the unconventional gas source that could perhaps be put into production most quickly and cheaply. In order to promote die development of this potentially large resource, government agencies can do three significant things: initiate a coring program for resource definition; cooperate in clarifying the status of the resource and in prescribing the rights of all interested parties; and establish incentive programs to speed production and use of die resourceA number of legal and institutional concerns relate to the development of coalbed methane. These concerns include ownership rights, the meaning of the word gas in regulatory language, the form of regulating this resource that is interrelated with the coal resource; and the conservation of resourcesAlthough production from each well is low, the increased need for domestic energy supplies and the economics of production are coming together to make the development of this resource of some interest. As little production experience has been acquired on a commercial scale, incentive programs can do much to stimulate its early development. |
