A dispute brewing over the ownership of coalbed methane in Alberta may not get far, says a representative for the Canadian Society for Unconventional Gas.
The United Landowners of Alberta hope a legal challenge over the ownership of the gas will award it to property owners rather than the province, but Mike Dawson of the society said the province’s mines and minerals act does not distinguish how the gas was produced, only that it exists.
“It doesn’t really matter if it is thermogenic or biogenic, it is still natural gas generated in the subsurface.”
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He said it is also difficult to determine the origin of the gas and whether the two types mingled.
Landowners argue coalbed methane is a byproduct of microorganisms dwelling in the coal seams in a process called biogenesis that takes less time than methane produced with heat and pressure over millions of years. If the microbes produce the gas, landowners argue, it is a renewable resource.
“If your mind is made up you can see what you want in the research,” Dawson said.
“Do they have their work cut out for them? Absolutely.”
Researchers are trying to produce biogenic gas by adding more of the necessary micro-organisms to subsurface coal deposits.
