Objective The deep coalbed methane (CBM) industry in China has become a key sector for increasing natural gas reserves and production. However, the current technical standard system, established on the basis of shallow CBM practices, is systematically incompatible with the demands of deep CBM exploration and development. This paper aims to analyze the impacts of such incompatibility and propose an optimization path for the standard system, so as to provide standardization support for the large-scale development of deep CBM.

Methods Based on the complex geological characteristics of deep CBM reservoirs featuring high temperature, high pressure and high in-situ stress, as well as their occurrence and production characteristics of "coexisting adsorbed gas and free gas, gas production after fracturing, high energy and high productivity", this paper systematically dissects the specific impacts of the current standard system in four dimensions: geological exploration and evaluation, techno-economic requirements, safety and environmental protection risks, and industrial collaborative management. An optimization path is constructed by combining the difficulties and particularities of deep CBM exploration and development.

Results The research shows that the construction of a deep CBM standard system should be based on the existing system, focus on the three core bottlenecks of geological evaluation, technological innovation and risk control, and tackle key standards such as fine reservoir characterization. Four optimization paths are proposed: innovating geological standards, establishing techno-economic standards, building a trinity environmental protection standard system of "prevention-control-restoration", and promoting cross-field standard coordination.

Conclusion The proposed "four-in-one" standard optimization path can effectively solve the incompatibility between current standards and deep CBM exploration and development, and provide solid standardization support for the safe, efficient and large-scale development of China's deep CBM industry.