THEME ALIGNMENT

INDUSTRY PROBLEM

Australia’s coal seam gas (CSG) industry faces persistent operational and modelling challenges that undermine production efficiency and forecast reliability. Workovers are common: wells produce significant fines that clog near-wellbore regions and downhole equipment, while the fluids used during workovers impose cyclic stress on the coal. The impact of these dynamic property changes on coal permeability and gas recovery remains poorly quantified. Liquid loading further restricts gas flow, elevates bottom-hole pressure, and triggers premature workovers, yet its onset is difficult to predict reliably. Beyond these operational issues, uncertainty in history matching and production forecasting, particularly regarding Palmer–Mansoori parameterisation, effective producing length in horizontal wells, and well drainage interactions-reduces operator confidence and forces reliance on black-box data-driven models that lack physical interpretability. Industry engagement with Santos, Origin Energy and Shell confirmed these as central unresolved challenges, directly informing the scope of this proposal.