Coal-Bed Gas in Hungary
Poster Presentation

By E.R.Landis¹, T.J. Rohrbacher¹, C.E. Barker¹, B. Fodor², and G. Gombar2

¹U.S. Geological Survey, Energy Resources Team, Denver, CO 80225.
²Hungarian Geological Survey, Minerals Management Division, Budapest, Hungary H-1143.

The coal-bed gas resource potential of Hungary was identified as worthy of further investigation during cooperative research conducted with support from the U.S.-Hungarian Joint Science and Technology Fund. In particular, the coals of the Mecsek coalfield in southwestern Hungary near the city of Pecs (see fig. 1 in Quality of Selected Hungarian Coals) have a long history of releasing large quantities of coal-bed gas, largely methane, during underground mining in the area. Standard ventilation techniques to reduce the concentration of methane in the mines were employed, and, in addition, coal-bed gas was gathered by drilling in advance of mining and utilized for domestic and municipal purposes. Attempts to produce the gas as an independent resource have not been successful but provide much information useful for further exploration. A study of the available information by earlier workers led to an estimate of as much as 4 trillion cubic feet of gas in the Mecsek coalfield.

Large quantities of mine-related data and basic geologic information regarding the coal resources are available, but particular information needed for evaluation of the coal-bed gas resource potential is not available. For example, much more coal gas content and permeability information is needed to guide further exploration.

For the present study, samples were collected at the Karolina and Pecsvasas surface mines in the Mecsek coalfield (all underground mines are now closed). The samples represent two different coal beds in the field. Adsorption, petrographic, and proximate analytical studies were performed. Mathematical integration of the adsorption information is shown in figure 1.

Figure 1. Regression analysis of combined adsorption data for the Karolina and Pecsvasas mine samples.

The new data combined with available geologic information results in an estimate of about one trillion cubic feet of gas in an area of about 70 km² in the Mecsek coalfield. Further exploration is justified and could lead to inclusion of coal-bed gas in the future energy supply of Hungary.