The Effects of the Length and Conductivity of Artificial Fracture on Gas Production from a Class 3 Hydrate Reservoir

Shilong Shang, Lijuan Gu and Hailong Lu
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Shilong Shang: College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Lijuan Gu: Beijing International Center for Gas Hydrate, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Hailong Lu: Beijing International Center for Gas Hydrate, School of Earth and Space Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 22, 1-13

Abstract: Natural gas hydrate is considered as a potential energy resource. To develop technologies for the exploitation of natural gas hydrate, several field gas production tests have been carried out in permafrost and continental slope sediments. However, the gas production rates in these tests were still limited, and the low permeability of the hydrate-bearing sediments is identified as one of the crucial factors. Artificial fracturing is proposed to promote gas production rate by improving reservoir permeability. In this research, numerical studies about the effect of fracture length and fluid conductivity on production performance were carried out on an artificially fractured Class 3 hydrate reservoir (where the single hydrate zone is surrounded by an overlaying and underlying hydrate-free zone), in which the equivalent conductivity method was applied to depict the artificial fracture. The results show that artificial fracture can enhance gas production by offering an extra fluid flow channel for the migration of gas released from hydrate dissociation. The effect of fracture length on production is closely related to the time frame of production, and gas production improvement by enlarging the fracture length is observed after a certain production duration. Through the production process, secondary hydrate formation is absent in the fracture, and the high conductivity in the fracture is maintained. The results indicate that the increase in fracture conductivity has a limited effect on enhancing gas production.

Keywords: numerical simulation; artificial fracture; gas production; hydrate reservoir (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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