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Original Paper | Open Access

Experimental study on solid particle migration and production behaviors during marine natural gas hydrate dissociation by depressurization

Yan-Long Lia,b, Fu-Long Ningb,c, Meng Xua,c, Min-Hui Qia,b, Jia-Xin Sunc, Alireza Nourie, De-Li Gaoc,d(), Neng-You Wua,b()
Key Laboratory of Gas Hydrate, Ministry of Natural Resources, Qingdao Institute of Marine Geology, Qingdao, 266237, Shandong, China
Laboratory for Marine Mineral Resources, Laoshan Laboratory, Qingdao, 266237, Shandong, China
Faculty of Engineering, China University of Geosciences-Wuhan, Wuhan, 430074, Hubei, China
MOE Key Laboratory of Petroleum Engineering, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, 102249, China
School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

Edited by Jia-Jia Fei

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Abstract

Sand production is one of the main obstacles restricting gas extraction efficiency and safety from marine natural gas hydrate (NGH) reservoirs. Particle migration within the NGH reservoir dominates sand production behaviors, while their relationships were rarely reported, severely constrains quantitative evaluation of sand production risks. This paper reports the optical observations of solid particle migration and production from micrometer to mesoscopic scales conditioned to gravel packing during depressurization-induced NGH dissociation for the first time. Theoretical evolutionary modes of sand migration are established based on experimental observations, and its implications on field NGH are comprehensively discussed. Five particle migration regimes of local borehole failure, continuous collapse, wormhole expansion, extensive slow deformation, and pore-wall fluidization are proved to occur during depressurization. The types of particle migration regimes and their transmission modes during depressurization are predominantly determined by initial hydrate saturation. In contrast, the depressurization mainly dominates the transmission rate of the particle migration regimes. Furthermore, both the cumulative mass and the medium grain size of the produced sand decrease linearly with increasing initial methane hydrate (MH) saturation. Discontinuous gas bubble emission, expansion, and explosion during MH dissociation delay sand migration into the wellbore. At the same time, continuous water flow is a requirement for sand production during hydrate dissociation by depressurization. The experiments enlighten us that a constitutive model that can illustrate visible particle migration regimes and their transmission modes is urgently needed to bridge numerical simulation and field applications. Optimizing wellbore layout positions or special reservoir treatment shall be important for mitigating sand production tendency during NGH exploitation.

Keywords

Natural gas hydrateSolid particle migrationSand productionSand controlSandingHydrate exploitation

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Petroleum Science
Volume 20 Issue 6,
December 2023
Pages 3610-3623
DOI: 10.1016/j.petsci.2023.05.018
Cite this article:
Li Y-L, Ning F-L, Xu M, et al. Experimental study on solid particle migration and production behaviors during marine natural gas hydrate dissociation by depressurization. Petroleum Science, 2023, 20(6): 3610-3623. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.petsci.2023.05.018
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