Sand production model in gas hydrate-bearing sediments

Uchida, Shun; Klar, Assaf; Yamamoto, Koji

doi:10.1016/j.ijrmms.2016.04.009

Cited by 154 publications

(86 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The depressurization is typically achieved by lowering the fluid pressure below the dissociation pressure at the prevailing temperature and salinity, where pore water is continuously pumped out from target hydrate-occurring intervals in the production well (Makogon, 1997). This depressurization of hydrate-bearing sediments (HBS) not only causes multiphase fluid flows associated with hydrate dissociation, but also accompanies various emergent phenomena, including compression and mechanical failure of sediments (Kwon et al, 2013;Waite et al, 2010), sand production (Uchida et al, 2016), and fines migration (Jung et al, 2012;Lee et al, 2013) Moreover, recent field-scale hydrate production tests (e.g., Malik in Canada and the Nankai Trough in Japan) have demonstrated that depressurization-based hydrate production can cause severe sand production and fines migration (Yamamoto et al, 2014). In particular, fines migration refers to a phenomenon in which fine sediment particles (or fines) that are smaller than sand particles (< 75 μm) move along with the fluid in porous media.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Depressurization‐Induced Fines Migration in Sediments Containing Methane Hydrate: X‐Ray Computed Tomography Imaging Experiments

et al. 2018

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Depressurization of hydrate‐bearing sediments (HBS) can cause the movement of fine particles, and in turn, such fines migration affects fluid flow and mechanical behavior of sediments, ultimately affecting long‐term hydrocarbon production and wellbore stability. This study investigated how and to what extent depressurization of HBS causes fines migration using X‐ray computed tomography (CT) imaging. Methane hydrate was synthesized in sediments with 10% fines content (FC), composed of sands with silt and/or clay, and the hydrate‐bearing samples were stepwisely depressurized while acquiring CT images. The CT images were analyzed to quantify the spatial changes in FC in the host sediment and thus to capture the fines migration during depressurization. It was found that the FC changes began occurring from the hydrate dissociation regions. This confirms that the multiphase flow caused by depressurization accompanies fines migration. Depressurization of HBS with a hydrate saturation of ~20–40% caused FC reduction from ~10% to ~6–9%, and the extent of fines migration differed with the particle sizes of the host sands and the types of fines. It was found that fines migration was more pronounced with coarse sands and with silty fines. Such observed level of FC reduction is estimated to increase sediment permeability by several factors based on the Kozeny‐type permeability model. Our results support the notion that the extent of fines migration and its effect on fluid flow behavior need to be assessed in consideration of physical properties of host sediment and fine particles to identify optimum depressurization strategies.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depressurization‐Induced Fines Migration in Sediments Containing Methane Hydrate: X‐Ray Computed Tomography Imaging Experiments

et al. 2018

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“…However, developing hydrate causes changes in the mechanical behaviours of hydrate layers. This leads to geomechanical problems such as wellbore instability, sand production, formation collapse and submarine landslides [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. In the petroleum industry, millions of dollars have been spent to Figure 1 shows the methane hydrate sand production and sand control simulator (MHSPSCS), which has a diameter of 200 mm and the height of 200 mm.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The experimental device consisted of a high-pressure reactor equipped with a wellbore, a temperature-controlled water bath, a production unit, a visual gas-liquid-solid three-phase separation system, a data-acquisition system, and some measurement units. Two top pressure transducers (top pore pressure and crustal stress loader pressure), a middle pressure transducer (middle pore pressure), and a bottom pressure transducer (gas production Energies 2018, 11,1673 3 of 17 pressure) were placed in the simulator. The MHSPSCS was enclosed with cooling jacket and heat exchanger tube (−253.15 to 323.15 K, ±0.1 K) to maintain the temperature.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigation of Characteristics of Sand Production in Wellbore during Hydrate Exploitation by the Depressurization Method

Xiong

et al. 2018

Energies

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Sand production is the process in which formation sand and gravel would migrate into the wellbore by the flow of reservoir fluids. This is a significant problem that endangers the safety of hydrate exploitation. The aim of this study is to understand sand production during hydrate exploitation. A novel experimental apparatus was constructed to examine sand production in the hydrate layer by using the depressurization method. Hydrate production was divided into three periods: water, gas with water drops, and gas. We detected sand production in the first two periods: fine sand in the first period and sand grains in the second. The temperature related characteristics of the hydrate layers and the rates of sand production differed during different stages of hydrate production. The unique sputtering occurring owing to the decomposition of the hydrate might have provided the driving force for sand migration, and water gas bubbles or gaseous water drops from the decomposed hydrate might have enhanced sand carrying capacity. The subsidence of hydrate-bearing sediments was influenced by sand production, whereas the maintenance of crustal stress possibly influenced the rate and magnitude of subsidence. Future experimental and numerical research into the dynamical thermal properties and material balance of the hydrate layer production must consider its dynamic subsidence.Energies 2018, 11, 1673 2 of 17 prevent, solve and overcome sand control problems and their prediction [14][15][16]. Sand production is a severe problem affecting the safe and efficient hydrate exploitation [4,5,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. Sand production has been reported in the cases of Messoyakha terrestrial hydrate reservoir [18,19], Mallik terrestrial hydrate production tests in 2007 and 2008 [17,20,31], Alaska's North Slope terrestrial hydrate exploitation [31] and Nankai offshore hydrate production tests in 2013 and 2017 [22,23,33,34]. In May 2017, China performed two types of hydrate production tests in the Shenhu and Liwan areas of the South China Sea using methods of sand control and sand separation, respectively [26,28,29]. The sand control demonstrated by these production tests may not be sufficient for large-scale commercial hydrate exploitation with larger production rates and times. Therefore, research on the sand production mechanism in hydrate exploitation is essential.In experimental investigations, the importance of fine sand production during gas production owing to hydrate-bearing sediments has been noted, even when the content of fine sand is relatively low [36], but these tests did not involve wellbores or temperature gradient. Sand production occurs during the depressurization process, when hydrates are unstable. The driving force here is not dissociated gas flow but the water flowing through pores; the water flow rate determined the occurrence of sand production [37], and the effects of the wellbore and layered temperature were not discussed in these tests. Fine sand invasion was obs...

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“…Both of their results indicated that the gas production rate is expected to increase with time and the simulated water recovery rate cannot match field measured data. In addition, the geomechanical behaviors (such as seafloor subsidence and sand production) of the marine HBS induced by gas production have been widely studied [3,7,[18][19][20][21]. The geomechanical analysis indicated that the spatial evolution of the temperature, pressure, hydrate saturation, and gas saturation is the most relevant to the geomechanical behavior of HBS.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multiphase Flow Behavior of Layered Methane Hydrate Reservoir Induced by Gas Production

Yuan¹,

Xu²,

Xin³

et al. 2017

Geofluids

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Gas hydrates are expected to be a potential energy resource with extensive distribution in the permafrost and in deep ocean sediments. The marine gas hydrate drilling explorations at the Eastern Nankai Trough of Japan revealed the variable distribution of hydrate deposits. Gas hydrate reservoirs are composed of alternating beds of sand and clay, with various conditions of permeability, porosity, and hydrate saturation. This study looks into the multiphase flow behaviors of layered methane hydrate reservoirs induced by gas production. Firstly, a history matching model by incorporating the available geological data at the test site of the Eastern Nankai Trough, which considers the layered heterogeneous structure of hydrate saturation, permeability, and porosity simultaneously, was constructed to investigate the production characteristics from layered hydrate reservoirs. Based on the validated model, the effects of the placement of production interval on production performance were investigated. The modeling results indicate that the dissociation zone is strongly affected by the vertical reservoir's heterogeneous structure and shows a unique dissociation front. The beneficial production interval scheme should consider the reservoir conditions with high permeability and high hydrate saturation. Consequently, the identification of the favorable hydrate deposits is significantly important to realize commercial production in the future.

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Sand production model in gas hydrate-bearing sediments

Cited by 154 publications

References 19 publications

Depressurization‐Induced Fines Migration in Sediments Containing Methane Hydrate: X‐Ray Computed Tomography Imaging Experiments

Depressurization‐Induced Fines Migration in Sediments Containing Methane Hydrate: X‐Ray Computed Tomography Imaging Experiments

Experimental Investigation of Characteristics of Sand Production in Wellbore during Hydrate Exploitation by the Depressurization Method

Multiphase Flow Behavior of Layered Methane Hydrate Reservoir Induced by Gas Production

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