Overview
A well is drilled to produce coalbed natural gas. Within the coal seam, the natural gas is held in place by water pressure. In order to release the natural gas, the water pressure must be reduced. This is accomplished by pumping a small percentage of the water out of the coal seam.

Coalbed natural gas wells go through three stages during their productions cycles. During the initial de-pressuring stage, the water is produced with little or no gas. However, over time, the volume of water continues to decrease while the volume of natural gas produced increases. A stable production stage is reached when the maximum amount of natural gas is being produced and the water production continues to decrease.