Unlocking the deepwater natural gas hydrate's commercial potential with extended reach wells from shallow water: Review and an innovative method
TL;DR: In this article, an innovative method for unlocking the deepwater natural gas hydrate (NGH) commercial potential with ERWs from shallow water is proposed, taking full advantage of the formation geothermal heat beneath shallow water, combining depressurization with the thermal simulation technique though linking the deep-water NGH reservoirs with multiple free gas deposits in shallower water with a single wellbore.
Abstract: Deepwater natural gas hydrate (NGH) is generally accepted as a promising energy source for humanity in the coming future due to its huge amount of available reserves on earth. However, as deepwater NGH reservoirs always have restricted accessibility, harsh engineering conditions and high operation risk, their development has been considered technically and economically less viable. Worldwide field production tests have indicated that the current techniques are not able to commercially develop deepwater NGH independently. Therefore, technological revolutions for deepwater NGH development is pressing to unlock deepwater NGH's commercial potential. The purpose of this work is twofold. First, the state-of-art research on the NGH reservoirs development and extended reach wells (ERWs) technology are comprehensively reviewed. In addition to summarize the previous research achievements, the limitations and insightful suggestions are put forward for future deepwater NGH development. Second, inspired by the development of ERWs technology and its great success in maximum depletion of the offshore unconventional oil & gas reservoirs, an innovative method for unlocking the deepwater NGH's commercial potential with ERWs from shallow water is proposed. With the benefits of improving the deepwater NGH reservoirs drainage, taking full advantage of the formation geothermal heat beneath shallow water, combining depressurization with the thermal simulation technique though linking the deepwater NGH reservoirs with multiple free gas deposits in shallower water with a single wellbore, getting free of engineering and geological risks in deepwater, minimizing the cost and environmental footprint, the innovative method may promote the commercial viability of deepwater NGH development and trigger the next boom in the unconventional oil & gas development after shale gas.
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TL;DR: In this article, sustainable, efficient, and safe NGH development is discussed in the context of natural gas hydrate (NGH) as a promising alternative energy source for renewable energy.
Abstract: Natural gas hydrate (NGH) is widely distributed worldwide with great reserves and is generally accepted as a promising alternative energy source. However, sustainable, efficient, and safe NGH devel...
42 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a virtual horizontal well located at the site SH2, northern South China Sea is involved to optimize packing operation parameters and analyze factors that affect the safety and effectiveness of packing operation.
37 citations
TL;DR: In this article, different reservoir temperatures (276.2, 277.2 and 278.2 K) and production pressures (2.3, 2.6 and 3.1 MPa) were employed to investigate the methane hydrate production process.
26 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, natural gas hydrate (NGH) is regarded as the next alternate energy resource to meet the energy transition for a net-zero society, and the world's gas demand is rapidly increasing.
Abstract: Because of the urgency of energy transition for a net-zero society, the world’s gas demand is rapidly increasing. Natural gas hydrate (NGH) is regarded as the next alternate energy resource to meet...
17 citations
TL;DR: In this paper , the thermodynamics behaviors and temperature response mechanism during methane hydrate production by depressurization are still unclear, and the results reveal the temperature response differences before, in and after the hydrate dissociation process and provide direct thermodynamic criterion for the field monitoring of methane hyrate production.
15 citations
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01 Jan 1990TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compared the properties of hydrates and ice with those of natural gas and showed the effect of thermodynamic inhibitors on the formation of hydrate formation and dissolution process.
Abstract: PREFACE Overview and Historical Perspective Hydrates as a Laboratory Curiosity Hydrates in the Natural Gas Industry Hydrates as an Energy Resource Environmental Aspects of Hydrates Safety Aspects of Hydrates Relationship of This Chapter to Those That Follow Molecular Structures and Similarities to Ice Crystal Structures of Ice Ih and Natural Gas Hydrates Comparison of Properties of Hydrates and Ice The What and the How of Hydrate Structures Hydrate Formation and Dissociation Processes Hydrate Nucleation Hydrate Growth Hydrate Dissociation Estimation Techniques for Phase Equilibria of Natural Gas Hydrates Hydrate Phase Diagrams for Water + Hydrocarbon Systems Three-Phase (LW-H-V) Equilibrium Calculations Quadruple Points and Equilibrium of Three Condensed Phases (LW-H-LHC) Effect of Thermodynamic Inhibitors on Hydrate Formation Two-Phase Equilibrium: Hydrates with One Other Phase Hydrate Enthalpy and Hydration Number from Phase Equilibrium Summary and Relationship to Chapters Which Follow A Statistical Thermodynamic Approach to Hydrate Phase Equilibria Statistical Thermodynamics of Hydrate Equilibria Application of the Method to Analyze Systems of Methane + Ethane + Propane Computer Simulation: Another Microscopic-Macroscopic Bridge Summary Experimental Methods and Measurements of Hydrate Properties Experimental Apparatuses and Methods for Macroscopic Measurements Measurements of the Hydrate Phase Data for Natural Gas Hydrate Phase Equilibria and Thermal Properties Summary and Relationship to Chapters that Follow References Hydrates in the Earth The Paradigm Is Changing from Assessment of Amount to Production of Gas Sediments with Hydrates Typically Have Low Contents of Biogenic Methane Sediment Lithology and Fluid Flow Are Major Controls on Hydrate Deposition Remote Methods Enable an Estimation of the Extent of a Hydrated Reservoir Drilling Logs and/or Coring Provide Improved Assessments of Hydrated Gas Amounts Hydrate Reservoir Models Indicate Key Variables for Methane Production Future Hydrated Gas Production Trends Are from the Permafrost to the Ocean Hydrates Play a Part in Climate Change and Geohazards Summary Hydrates in Production, Processing, and Transportation How Do Hydrate Plugs Form in Industrial Equipment? How Are Hydrate Plug Formations Prevented? How Is a Hydrate Plug Dissociated? Safety and Hydrate Plug Removal Applications to Gas Transport and Storage Summary of Hydrates in Flow Assurance and Transportation APPENDICES INDEX
6,037 citations
TL;DR: Natural gas hydrates have an important bearing on flow assurance and safety issues in oil and gas pipelines, they offer a largely unexploited means of energy recovery and transportation, and could play a significant role in past and future climate change.
Abstract: Natural gas hydrates are solid, non-stoichiometric compounds of small gas molecules and water. They form when the constituents come into contact at low temperature and high pressure. The physical properties of these compounds, most notably that they are non-flowing crystalline solids that are denser than typical fluid hydrocarbons and that the gas molecules they contain are effectively compressed, give rise to numerous applications in the broad areas of energy and climate effects. In particular, they have an important bearing on flow assurance and safety issues in oil and gas pipelines, they offer a largely unexploited means of energy recovery and transportation, and they could play a significant role in past and future climate change.
2,419 citations
TL;DR: A series of recent field expeditions have provided new insights into the nature of gas hydrate occurrence; perhaps most notably, the understanding that gas hydrates occur in a wide variety of geologic settings and modes of occurrence.
Abstract: For the past three decades, discussion of naturally-occurring gas hydrates has been framed by a series of assessments that indicate enormous global volumes of methane present within gas hydrate accumulations. At present, these estimates continue to range over several orders of magnitude, creating great uncertainty in assessing those two gas hydrate issues that relate most directly to resource volumes – gas hydrate’s potential as an energy resource and its possible role in ongoing climate change. However, a series of recent field expeditions have provided new insights into the nature of gas hydrate occurrence; perhaps most notably, the understanding that gas hydrates occur in a wide variety of geologic settings and modes of occurrence. These fundamental differences - which include gas hydrate concentration, host lithology, distribution within the sediment matrix, burial depth, water depth, and many others - can now be incorporated into evaluations of gas hydrate energy resource and environmental issues. With regard to energy supply potential, field data combined with advanced numerical simulation have identified gas-hydrate-bearing sands as the most feasible initial targets for energy recovery. The first assessments of potential technically-recoverable resources are now occurring, enabling a preliminary estimate of ultimate global recoverable volumes on the order of ~3 × 1014 m3 (1016 ft3; ∼150 GtC). Other occurrences, such as gas hydrate-filled fractures in clay-dominated reservoirs, may also become potential energy production targets in the future; but as yet, no production concept has been demonstrated. With regard to the climate implications of gas hydrate, an analogous partitioning of global resources to determine that portion most prone to dissociation during specific future warming scenarios is needed. At present, it appears that these two portions of total gas hydrate resources (those that are the most likely targets for gas extraction and those that are the most likely to respond in a meaningful way to climate change) will be largely exclusive, as those deposits that are the most amenable to production (the more deeply buried and localized accumulations) are also those that are the most poorly coupled to oceanic and atmospheric conditions.
1,060 citations
BP1
TL;DR: The most widely cited estimate of global hydrate-bound gas is 21×1015 m3 of methane at STP (or ∼10,000 Gt of methane carbon), which is proposed as a consensus value from several independent estimations as mentioned in this paper.
967 citations