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

Jingsheng Lu, Youming Xiong, Dongliang Li, Xiaodong Shen, Qi Wu and Deqing Liang
Additional contact information
Jingsheng Lu: State Key Laboratory of Oil & Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Youming Xiong: State Key Laboratory of Oil & Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu 610500, China
Dongliang Li: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Xiaodong Shen: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Qi Wu: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China
Deqing Liang: Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China

Energies, 2018, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-17

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: hydrate-bearing sediment; sand production in wellbore; depressurization; subsidence; thermal properties (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: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/7/1673/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/11/7/1673/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:11:y:2018:i:7:p:1673-:d:154744

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().