Review on the gas hydrate development and production as a new energy resource

Abstract

Gas hydrates consist of guest gas molecules inside hydrogen-bonded water lattices. Natural gas hydrates are found in offshore and permafrost regions. The large amounts of gas hydrate reserves suggest the potential of gas hydrates as an energy resource if economically viable production methods were developed. The proper understandings of hydrate formation/dissociation are important for the drilling and oil production applications. The investigations of physical and geotechnical properties provide the in-depth understandings of the in-situ hydrate formation mechanism and the associated production technologies. The purpose of this review paper is to provide a starting kit for civil engineers who have recently started the research related to the hydrate development and production and want to have insights on the general trends of the hydrate research and the relevant knowledge needed for their research. Gas hydrate explorations include the geophysical explorations, such as the seismic survey, the borehole logging and the geological and geochemical explorations. Gas hydrate productions require the dissociation of gas hydrates, and the production technologies are categorized based on the dissociation techniques involved: depressurization method, thermal stimulation method, and inhibitor injection method. Establishing safe and efficient gas production technology requires the extensive information on the geotechnical characteristics of hydrate reservoirs. Flow assurances, the integrity of sediment formation and the well bore stability are crucial for the safe and efficient productions of gases from gas hydrates in sediments. The strength and deformation characteristics, the fluid migration characteristics, and the thermal conduction characteristics are key factors for controlling the above.

Numerical simulations for analyzing deformation characteristics of hydrate-bearing sediments during depressurization

“…Among the methods mentioned above, the depressurization method is the most economical and effective one (Lee et al, 2011;Konno et al, 2016). As a consequence, the depressurization method has been adopted in field productions of NGHs in the Messoyakha gas field (Krason, 2000), the North Slope of Alaska (Schoderbek et al, 2013), the Nankai Trough in Japan Sea (Cyranoski, 2013;Yamamoto et al, 2014), and the Shenhu Area in South China Sea.…”

Heat-Induced Evolution of Phase Transformations in Tetrahydrofuran Hydrate-Bearing Sediment

“…It is noted that the thermal conductivity is expressed as average that of each phase which is one of that for some methane hydrate sediments [29][30][31].…”

Controlling the heat evolution of cement slurry system using microencapsulated phase change materials

“…There are a large number of oil and gas resources located in deep water regions of the South China Sea. Compared with the conventional cementing, the cementing of deep water (especially for surface casing) presents many challenges attribute to the unfavorable conditions associated with deep water operations, such as shallow water flow, shallow gas flow, low temperature, weak formation, and high rig rate . But the latest research and filed construction show that the key to limit the success of deep water cementing is natural gas hydrate.…”

“…2 It is undeniable that natural gas hydrate is a huge potential energy source, and more and more attention has been given to the exploration and development of natural gas hydrate. 1 However, on the one hand, the hydrates are closely related to global climate change, such as global climate warming and greenhouse effect intensified. 3 On the other hand, the success of deep water cementing is limited by hydrate formation, especially for surface casing.…”