Large borehole with multi-lateral branches: A novel solution for exploitation of clayey silt hydrate

Yan-long Li; Yi-zhao Wan; Qiang Chen; Jia-xin Sun; Neng-you Wu; Gao-wei Hu; Fu-long Ning; Pei-xiao Mao

doi:10.31035/cg2018082

2019 Vol. 2, No. 3

Article Contents

Article navigation > China Geology > 2019 > 2(3): 333-341

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Yan-long Li, Yi-zhao Wan, Qiang Chen, Jia-xin Sun, Neng-you Wu, Gao-wei Hu, Fu-long Ning, Pei-xiao Mao, 2019. Large borehole with multi-lateral branches: A novel solution for exploitation of clayey silt hydrate, China Geology, 2, 333-341. doi: 10.31035/cg2018082

Citation:

Large borehole with multi-lateral branches: A novel solution for exploitation of clayey silt hydrate

a.
Key Laboratory for Natural Gas Hydrate of Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, China Geological Survery, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao 266071, China
b.
Laboratory for Marine Mineral Resource, Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266071, China
c.
Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China

More Information

Corresponding authors: liyanlongupc@163.com (Yan-long Li); chenqiang_hds@126.com (Qiang Chen)

Received Date: 08 January 2019

Revised Date: 27 February 2019

Accepted Date: 07 March 2019

Available Online: 07 August 2019

Publish Date: 25 November 2019

Abstract

Abstract

Raising the in situ decomposition rate of natural gas hydrate and increasing the decomposition contact area are two main ways to raise the productivity of hydrate. An exploitation technique based on large borehole with multi-lateral branches (LB & MB) was proposed in this paper. This technique is mainly intended for the clayey silt hydrate reservoir in the South China Sea, and its main purpose is to alleviate the sand output from formation for maintaining the stability of the reservoir and to greatly increase the gas productivity of the reservoir. In this paper, the following aspects were mainly expounded: definition of the basic geometric parameters for layout of multi-lateral branches in clayey silt hydrate reservoir, simulation of the stimulation effect of a typical well profile with two branches, and prediction and simulation of the reservoir failure risk in a well profile with eight branches. The results show that the LB & MB effectively improves the flow field in the formation, raises the productivity of the reservoir and may also help to decrease the produced water-gas ratio (WGR). When the lateral branches spacing is too small, the failure zones around adjacent lateral branches overlap each other, possibly causing reservoir failure in a larger range. Therefore, the geometric parameters of multi-lateral branches depend on the dual control of the productivity and geotechnical risk factor of reservoir. Further study is being carried out, so as to obtain the optimal combination of parameters of multi-lateral branches.
- Natural gas hydrate /
- Clayey silt /
- Multi-lateral branches /
- Stimulation /
- Numerical simulation /
- Hydrate exploration engineering /
- South China Sea /
- China

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References

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