The service enables coal miners to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and increase mine safety by quickly and accurately identifying where carbon dioxide and methane occur in coal seams targeted for mining and how those gases can be drained safely and quickly prior to mining, WellDog chief commercialization officer and vice president of engineering Pete Christian said.

“Developing the Slimhole GasMapper required substantial, and challenging, miniaturization of our Reservoir Raman System tool,” he said.

“However, we can now quickly and accurately measure coal gas content and permeability with one easy test in the less expensive boreholes. This will help our customers reduce their fugitive greenhouse gas emissions, increase mine worker safety, and enhance production of clean burning natural gas from coals targeted for mining.”

GasMapper is a downhole technical measurement service that evaluates the carbon dioxide and methane outburst, explosive and atmospheric emission risks for coal mines and informs coal mine operators on pre-drainage of the coals in order to reduce or eliminate those risks.

WellDog’s third generation service involves a miniaturized Raman sensor and improved tubing joint sealing process, allowing the measurement system to be deployed reliably in slim boreholes include ubiquitous 96 mm HQ boreholes.

Commercialization of the slimhole service follows a multi-year, multi-million dollar development effort at the company’s Reservoir Technology Centre in Laramie, Wyoming.

WellDog launched the GasMapper service in 2012 after a successful two year development partnership with BHP Billiton in Queensland.

Outburst and explosive gas incidents occur regularly in the industry. China, for example, has averaged more than 200 incidents per year over the past 50 years. In addition, the US Environmental Protection Agency estimates that coal mines worldwide emitted 589 million tons of CO2-equivalent greenhouse gases in 2010, and that emission rate is expected to increase by 33% by 2030.