Because forecasting a development program
during the target selection phase of exploration for coalbed
methane (CBM) is impossible, the conventional method
that relies on a conceptual (or detailed) development program
cannot be used during the economic evaluation of
CBM resources. Hence, this study focuses on establishing
an economic evaluation model based on the characteristics
of the target selection phase. The discounted cashflow
method is applied to the construction of the model with the
assumption that there is a uniform distribution of production
wells. The computational error generated by the
assumption is corrected by introducing a correction factor
based on the production profile of single CBM wells. The
case study demonstrates that the blocks lacking economic
value can be screened out, and the most advantageous
targets can be found by computing the resource values in
the best- and worst-case scenarios. This technique can help
to reduce wasted investments and improve the quality of
decision-making in selecting targets for exploration.