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: 2022
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2022-01-01 至 2023-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=749410
• 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.

在加拿大北部边境的永久冻土层下和北极大陆坡的寒冷海洋沉积物中，蕴藏着巨大的甲烷气体。这些天然气储量被困在占据沉积物孔隙空间的冰状天然气水合物中。认识到以水合物形式储存的巨大潜在能量，进行了小规模现场试验，并成功地从水合物中生产甲烷气体。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。每个生产测试都预期并且确实依赖于解离；然而，尽管数据的可用性不断增加，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母砂地质力学行为的变化而导致关闭。因此，要认识到水合物的能源潜力，需要强大的数值模型来准确捕获并放大地质力学，以模拟水合物生产过程中的长期响应。 拟议研究的长期目标是增强我们对含水合物砂地质力学响应的基本了解，以促进稳健的数值模型，评估与水合物生产相关的经济和环境风险。这将通过综合研究来实现，该研究结合了创新和新颖的实验室测试、增强或新的本构模型的开发以及将其纳入数值模型。实验阶段将开发实验室合成的含水合物样本，其地质力学性质类似于在回收的完整含水合物岩心中观察到的地质力学性质。随后，我们将在现场条件下进行测试，以确定地质力学特性，例如强度、刚度、渗透性等。这些结果将用于完善现有的或开发新的本构模型，以定义砂在解离过程中的本构水平响应。这些随后将被纳入数值模型中，以评估水合物储层的天然气产量、评估井筒稳定性并预测与长期水合物储层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少的关键信息，以准确评估与从水合物生产中回收甲烷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，水合物的成功生产符合加拿大北部战略，以促进北部经济发展和行使北部主权。最后，通过这个研究项目，工程师将获得非常理想的地质力学技能，涉及结合高度耦合和非线性现象的实验和数值技术。