SCI和EI收录∣中国化工学会会刊

中国化学工程学报 ›› 2019, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (9): 2099-2106.DOI: 10.1016/j.cjche.2019.02.015

• Special Issue on Natural Gas Hydrate • 上一篇    下一篇

Geomechanics involved in gas hydrate recovery

Zhiqiang Liu1,2, Yunxiao Lu3, Jiuhui Cheng1,2, Qiang Han1,2, Zunjing Hu3, Linlin Wang1,2   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China;
    2 College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China;
    3 Downhole Service Company of Sinopec Shengli Oilfield Service Corporation, China
  • 收稿日期:2018-11-25 修回日期:2019-02-17 出版日期:2019-09-28 发布日期:2019-12-04
  • 通讯作者: Linlin Wang
  • 基金资助:
    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51809275) and the Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum, Beijing (2462018BJC002).

Geomechanics involved in gas hydrate recovery

Zhiqiang Liu1,2, Yunxiao Lu3, Jiuhui Cheng1,2, Qiang Han1,2, Zunjing Hu3, Linlin Wang1,2   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China;
    2 College of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum-Beijing, Beijing 102249, China;
    3 Downhole Service Company of Sinopec Shengli Oilfield Service Corporation, China
  • Received:2018-11-25 Revised:2019-02-17 Online:2019-09-28 Published:2019-12-04
  • Contact: Linlin Wang
  • Supported by:
    Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51809275) and the Science Foundation of China University of Petroleum, Beijing (2462018BJC002).

摘要: Gas hydrate is regarded as a promising energy owing to the large carbon reserve and high energy density. However, due to the particularity of the formation and the complexity of exploitation process, the commercial exploitation of gas hydrate has not been realized. This paper reviews the physical properties of gas hydratebearing sediments and focuses on the geomechanical response during the exploitation. The exploitation of gas hydrate is a strong thermal-hydrological-mechanical-chemical (THMC) coupling process:decomposition of hydrate into water and gas produces multi-physical processes including heat transfer, multi-fluid flow and deformation in the reservoir. These physical processes lead to a potential of geomechanical issues during the production process. Frequent occurrence of sand production is the major limitation of the commercial exploitation of gas hydrate. The potential landslide and subsidence will lead to the cessation of the production and even serious accidents. Preliminary researches have been conducted to investigate the geomechanical properties of gas hydrate-bearing sediments and to assess the wellbore integrity during the exploitation. The physical properties of hydrate have been fully studied, and some models have been established to describe the physical processes during the exploitation of gas hydrate. But the reproduction of actual conditions of hydrate reservoir in the laboratory is still a huge challenge, which will inevitably lead to a bias of experiment. In addition, because of the effect of microscopic mechanisms in porous media, the coupling mechanism of the existing models should be further investigated. Great efforts, however, are still required for a comprehensive understanding of this strong coupling process that is extremely different from the geomechanics involved in the conventional reservoirs.

关键词: Gas hydrate, Phase transition, THMC coupling, Wellbore integrity, Sand production

Abstract: Gas hydrate is regarded as a promising energy owing to the large carbon reserve and high energy density. However, due to the particularity of the formation and the complexity of exploitation process, the commercial exploitation of gas hydrate has not been realized. This paper reviews the physical properties of gas hydratebearing sediments and focuses on the geomechanical response during the exploitation. The exploitation of gas hydrate is a strong thermal-hydrological-mechanical-chemical (THMC) coupling process:decomposition of hydrate into water and gas produces multi-physical processes including heat transfer, multi-fluid flow and deformation in the reservoir. These physical processes lead to a potential of geomechanical issues during the production process. Frequent occurrence of sand production is the major limitation of the commercial exploitation of gas hydrate. The potential landslide and subsidence will lead to the cessation of the production and even serious accidents. Preliminary researches have been conducted to investigate the geomechanical properties of gas hydrate-bearing sediments and to assess the wellbore integrity during the exploitation. The physical properties of hydrate have been fully studied, and some models have been established to describe the physical processes during the exploitation of gas hydrate. But the reproduction of actual conditions of hydrate reservoir in the laboratory is still a huge challenge, which will inevitably lead to a bias of experiment. In addition, because of the effect of microscopic mechanisms in porous media, the coupling mechanism of the existing models should be further investigated. Great efforts, however, are still required for a comprehensive understanding of this strong coupling process that is extremely different from the geomechanics involved in the conventional reservoirs.

Key words: Gas hydrate, Phase transition, THMC coupling, Wellbore integrity, Sand production