Integration of Electromagnetic Geophysics Forward Simulation in Coupled Flow and Geomechanics for Monitoring a Gas Hydrate Deposit Located in the Ulleung Basin, East Sea, Korea

Hyun Chul Yoon, Jihoon Kim, Evan Schankee Um and Joo Yong Lee
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Hyun Chul Yoon: Marine Geology & Energy Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), 124 Gwahak-ro, Daejeon 34132, Korea
Jihoon Kim: Harold Vance Department of Petroleum Engineering, Texas A&M University, 3116 TAMU Richardson Building, College Station, TX 77843, USA
Evan Schankee Um: Earth & Environmental Sciences, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, 1 Cyclotron Road 90R1116, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
Joo Yong Lee: Climate Change Response Division, Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM), 124 Gwahak-ro, Daejeon 34132, Korea

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 10, 1-22

Abstract: We investigate the feasibility of electromagnetic (EM) geophysics methods to detect the dissociation of gas hydrate specifically from a gas hydrate deposit located in the Ulleung Basin, East Sea, Korea via an integrated flow-geomechanics-EM geophysics simulation. To this end, coupled flow and geomechanics simulation is first performed with the multiple porosity model employed, where a mixed formulation with the finite volume (FV) and finite element (FE) methods are taken for the flow and geomechanics, respectively. From the saturation and porosity fields obtained from the coupled flow and geomechanics, the electrical conductivity model is established for the EM simulation. Solving the partial differential equation of electrical diffusion which is linearized using the 3D finite element method (FEM), the EM fields are then computed. For numerical experiments, particularly two approaches in the configuration for the EM methods are compared in this contribution: the surface-to-surface and the surface-to-borehole methods. When the surface-to-surface EM method is employed, the EM is found to be less sensitive, implying low detectability. Especially for the short term of production, the low detectability is attributed to the similarity of electrical resistivity between the dissociated gas (CH 4 ) and hydrate as well as the specific dissociation pattern within the intercalated composites of the field. On the other hand, when the surface-to-borehole EM method is employed, its sensitivity to capture the produced gas flow is improved, confirming its detectability in monitoring gas flow. Hence, the EM geophysics simulation integrated with coupled flow and geomechanics can be a potential tool for monitoring gas hydrate deposits.

Keywords: electromagnetic geophysics; coupled flow and geomechanics; gas hydrate deposits; depressurization; Ulleung Basin (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: 2022
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