Considering the impact that coal has on the world, there are surprisingly few technical books dedicated to the subject. Romeo Flores, recently retired from the US Geological Survey (but still a Cipher Associate [see: https://www.ciphercoal.com/the-team/dr-romeo-m-flores/ ]), has gone some way to remedy this situation. His book “Coal and Coalbed Gas: Fueling the Future” has just […]
Tim Moore and Chris Nelson traveled for Cipher to South Africa and Botswana this month to begin work on a CBM play in Botswana. In May this year Cipher won a substantial contract to provide consulting services to Exxaro Resources, which is a large South African-based coal company. As is well known, the Karoo and […]
It’s always surprising to be caught out by an assumption. In this case I was writing a first draft of a paper on the effects of rank change (that is, change in organic maturation) on a coalbed methane reservoir. The study area, known locally as the Pinang Dome, is located in Kalimantan (Borneo), Indonesia. […]
It’s back to work after a long break over the holiday season! Having spent December and most of January in New Zealand, then the USA and then New Zealand again, we are back in Jakarta. Before leaving in late November, I attended the UGAS (Unconventional GAS) conference (26-27 November 2012) in Bali as a speaker. […]
Dr Tim A. Moore (Cipher) and Dr Joan S. Esterle (School of Earth Science, University of Queensland) were invited to give a workshop by a major coalbed methane (CBM) explorer in Indonesia last week. There were a total of 11 participants, including one from BPMigas (the Indonesian government regulating body for petroleum exploration). The course […]
Drilling has begun in South Sumatra and Cipher is there. We are working with local partners Sucofindo and Mantra Energy Services. Cipher is providing the expert management for gas desorption testing for an 11 well coalbed methane exploration program being conducted by Dart Energy Ltd along with their partners Medco Energy, P.T. Bukit Asam and […]
Tim Moore of Cipher, was recently in Beijing presenting a paper* at the annual meeting of The Society for Organic Petrology (TSOP). The society is one of only two internationally recognized organizations dedicated to understanding coal and organic rich rocks and petroleum (the other organization being the International Committee on Coal and Organic Petrology [ICCP]). […]
Sadly, I lost a trusted and long-time friend on the Geology 483 field trip: my hammer! I must have taken it out somewhere, either at 12-mile beach, or on top of the Denniston Plateau (perhaps at Burnetts Face) while leading the students around and … well, somewhere out there, she lies. I would have had […]
It was the renowned West Coast rain which put us to sleep that first night. The next day, puddles of the wet stuff lay everywhere and in some places spanned the entire road width. Low tide was at 11:52am so about an hour beforehand we set off to 12-mile beach to look at the lower […]
After nearly … ummm, well, lets just say a long time, my coalbed methane (CBM) review paper has been published (Moore, T.A., 2012, Coalbed methane: A review, International Journal of Coal Geology 101, 36-81). Admittedly, it was I who took a while to write it (my excuse is that at first I was Country Manager […]