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BLACK WARRIOR METHANE |
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| In 1979, Jim Walter Resources, Inc. (JWR) began a pilot
program to determine if it was economically feasible to degasify
coalbeds in advance of mining. Originally, five wells were
drilled in the area of No. 4 Mine, located near Brookwood,
Alabama, for the test. This pilot project was successful and in
1981 JWR and Enhanced Energy Resources formed the Brookwood
Degasification Project as 50/50 partners. On September 1, 1983, a new company, Black Warrior Methane Corp. was formed to replace Enhanced Energy Resources as operator of the degasification project. In 1988, Southern Natural Gas Company bought Enhanced Energy's half of the company. Today, Black Warrior Methane Corp. is jointly owned by Jim Walter Resources and El Paso Energy. |
From the five wells in 1979, Black Warrior Methane now operates
404 wells delivering 32.5 million cubic feet of gas
per day to its
sole customer, Southern Natural Gas. Black Warrior Methane uses
three methods for extracting methane from JWR's coal seams:
vertical wells drilled from the surface; underground horizontal
drilling used primarily for improving longwall operations; and
gob wells which pump gas from the area left after longwall mining
has taken place. In addition, Black Warrior Methane also owns Black Warrior Transmission Corp., which operates the 30 miles of gas pipeline used to deliver the methane gas. |
