The impact of hydrate production on the stability of hydrate-bearing reservoirs

水合物产量对含水合物储层稳定性的影响

• 批准号: RGPIN-2019-04835
• 负责人: Priest, Jeffrey
• 金额: $ 3.13万
• 依托单位: University of Calgary
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=737890
• 关键词: impact; hydrate; production; stability; bearing

In Canada's northern frontier, under the permafrost and within the cold marine sediments on the Arctic continental slope, are enormous reserves of methane gas. These gas reserves are trapped in ice-like gas hydrate found occupying the pore spaces of course sediments. Recognizing the vast potential energy stored in hydrate form, small-scale field trials tried, and successfully produced, methane gas from hydrate. Hydrate production requires dissociation of the ice-like hydrate into its constituent parts of gas and water. Each production test expected and indeed relied on dissociation; yet, despite the increasing availability of data, every field test has encountered critical issues, in some cases causing shut down, directly as a result of changes in the geomechanical behaviour of the host sands. Realizing the energy potential of hydrate therefore requires robust numerical models that accurately capture, and then up-scale, the geomechanics to simulate the long-term response during hydrate production. The long-term goal of the proposed research is to enhance our fundamental understanding of the geomechanical response of hydrate-bearing sand to facilitate robust numerical modeling that assesses the economic and environmental risks associated with hydrate production. This will be realized through integrated research that combines innovative and novel laboratory testing, development of enhanced or new constitutive models and their inclusion in numerical models. The experimental stage will develop laboratory synthesized hydrate-bearing specimens whose geomechanical properties are analogous to that observed in recovered intact hydrate-bearing cores. We will subsequently test under in-situ conditions to determine the geomechanical properties, such as strength, stiffness, permeability, etc. These results will be used to refine existing, or develop new, constitutive models that define the constitutive level response of the sand during dissociation. These will subsequently be incorporated into numerical models to evaluate gas production from hydrate reservoirs, assess well-bore stabilities, and predict large scale slope instabilities associated with long-term hydrate reservoir productions scenarios. Realization of the proposed research will provide the critical information that is currently missing to accurately assess the economic and environmental risks associated with methane recovery from hydrate production. This will directly contribute to the successful development and safe stewardship of Canada's energy reserves. As hydrate is primarily located close to northern communities, successful hydrate production aligns with Canada's northern strategy to increase northern economic development and exercise northern sovereign rights. Finally, through this research program, engineers will emerge with highly desirable geomechanical skills involving both experimental and numerical techniques that incorporate highly coupled and non linear phenomena.

在加拿大的北部边境，在永久冻土下和北极大陆斜坡上寒冷的海洋沉积物中，蕴藏着巨大的甲烷气体。这些天然气储量被困在冰状的天然气水合物中，这些天然气水合物占据了沉积物的孔隙空间。认识到以水合物形式储存的巨大潜在能量，小规模的现场试验尝试并成功地从水合物中生产出甲烷气体。水合物的产生需要将冰状水合物分解成气体和水的组成部分。每个生产试验都期望并确实依赖于解离；然而，尽管数据的可用性越来越高，但每次现场测试都遇到了关键问题，在某些情况下，直接由于主砂的地质力学行为发生变化而导致停工。因此，实现水合物的能量潜力需要强大的数值模型，以准确捕获地质力学，然后扩大规模，以模拟水合物生产过程中的长期响应。这项研究的长期目标是增强我们对含水砂岩的地质力学响应的基本理解，以促进评估与水合物生产相关的经济和环境风险的强大数值模拟。这将通过综合研究来实现，结合创新和新颖的实验室测试，开发增强或新的本构模型，并将其纳入数值模型。实验阶段将开发实验室合成的含水合物样品，其地质力学性质与在已回收的完整含水合物岩心中观察到的相似。随后，我们将在现场条件下进行测试，以确定地质力学特性，如强度、刚度、渗透率等。这些结果将用于完善现有的，或开发新的，本构模型，定义本构水平响应的沙子在解离。随后，这些将被纳入数值模型，以评估水合物储层的天然气产量，评估井眼稳定性，并预测与水合物储层长期生产情景相关的大规模斜坡不稳定性。拟议研究的实现将提供目前缺失的关键信息，以准确评估与水合物生产中甲烷回收相关的经济和环境风险。这将直接有助于加拿大能源储备的成功开发和安全管理。由于水合物主要位于北部社区附近，成功的水合物生产符合加拿大的北部战略，以促进北部经济发展和行使北部主权权利。最后，通过这个研究项目，工程师们将具备非常理想的地质力学技能，包括结合高度耦合和非线性现象的实验和数值技术。