Enhanced Gas Production from Class II Gas Hydrate Reservoirs by the Multistage Fractured Horizontal Well

Wei Sun, Guiwang Li, Huating Qin, Shuxia Li and Jianchun Xu ()
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Wei Sun: School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Guiwang Li: Tianjin Branch of CNOOC Ltd., Tianjin 300459, China
Huating Qin: Shenzhen Branch of CNOOC Ltd., Shenzhen 518000, China
Shuxia Li: School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China
Jianchun Xu: School of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580, China

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 8, 1-24

Abstract: In the two test productions that have been conducted in the hydrate reservoir test development zone in the South China Sea, the gas production capacity of single wells is low and the exploitation difficulty with the cost is too high for commercial demand economically. The low permeability of the hydrate-bearing layer (HBL) acts as the major barrier for pressure propagation during depressurization. Hydraulic fracturing by the combined depressurization is considered a promising hydrate production enhancement technology that can effectively improve the seepage state in the reservoir. In this study, to evaluate the effectiveness of the development methods association with fracturing, we established an idealized Class II hydrate reservoir and studied it using a multi-stage fractured horizontal well to assist in depressurization extraction. In order to evaluate the production enhancement effect of this method, we compared the gas production results of four methods, including single vertical well, vertical fractured well, horizontal well, and multistage fractured horizontal well through numerical simulation. In order to investigate the influence of key fracture parameters on the production enhancement effect, a sensitivity analysis of the production effect of Class II hydrate reservoirs with different fracture spacing, number of fractures, fracture conductivity, and fracture length was conducted, and the results were analyzed in terms of gas production and water production behavior curves as well as physical field evolution over time. The simulation results show that the multi-stage fractured horizontal wells have the best production increase in the comparison of well types. In the analysis of fracture parameters, it can be found that the selection of proper fracture spacing and dimensionless fracture conductivity can lead to a significant increase in gas production.

Keywords: natural gas hydrate; numerical simulation; gas production; multistage fractured horizontal well (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: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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