Browsing by Subject "Gas hydrate"
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Item A Study of Formation and Dissociation of Gas Hydrate(2012-07-16) Badakhshan Raz, SadeghThe estimation of gas hydrate volume in closed systems such as pipelines during shut-in time has a great industrial importance. A method is presented to estimate the volume of formed or decomposed gas hydrate in closed systems. The method was used to estimate the volume of formed gas hydrate in a gas hydrate crystallizer under different subcoolings of 0.2, 0.3, 0.6 and 4.6 degrees C, and initial pressures of 2000 and 2500 psi. The rate of gas hydrate formation increased with increases in subcooling and initial pressure. The aim of the second part of the study was the evaluation of the formation of gas hydrate and ice phases in a super-cooled methane-water system under the cooling rates of 0.45 and 0.6 degrees C/min, and the initial pressures of 1500, 2000 and 2500 psi, in pure and standard sea water-methane gas systems. The high cooling rate conditions are likely to be present in pipelines or around a wellbore producing from gas hydrate reservoir. Results showed that the initial pressure and the chemical composition of the water had little effect on the ice and gas hydrate formation temperatures, which were in the range of -8 +/- 0.2 degrees C in all the tests using the cooling rate of 0.45 degrees C/min. In contrast, the increase in the cooling rate from 0.45 to 0.6 degrees C/min decreased the ice and gas hydrate formation temperatures from -8 degrees C to -9 degrees C. In all tests, ice formed immediately after the formation of gas hydrate with a time lag less than 2 seconds. Finally, an analytical solution was derived for estimating induced radial and tangential stresses around a wellbore in a gas hydrate reservoir during gas production. Gas production rates between 0.04 to 0.12 Kg of gas per second and production times between 0.33 to 8 years were considered. Increases in production time and production rate induced greater radial and tangential stresses around the wellbore.Item Effect of a discrete three-phase methane equilibrium zone on the bottom-simulating reflection(2016-12) Shushtarian, Arash; Daigle, HughMarine gas hydrates are stable under conditions of low temperature and high pressure in the upper few hundreds of meters below the seafloor in a variety of geological setting. At a discrete horizon where thermodynamically favored phase switches from hydrate to gas, a characteristic seismic reflection referred as the bottom-simulating reflection (BSR) is produced. Furthermore, in sediments with a distribution of pore sizes, the gas and hydrate phases can coexist in pores of different sizes, giving a rise to three-phase equilibrium zone. This three-phase zone causes the BSR to have distinct characteristics that differ from those observed with a discrete phase boundary. The main objective of this thesis is to model the seismic response of a potential three-phase zone at the Walker Ridge Block 313H in the northern Gulf of Mexico. I modeled the BSR arising from this three-phase zone and analyzed the characteristics of the BSR and their relationships to the thickness and phase saturation within the three-phase zone. This was done by determining the elastic properties of the formation via rock physics models and their mathematical convolution with a seismic wavelet to create synthetic seismograms. Results show that the main factor for the intensity of the BSR is the abundance of the free gas in the three-phase zone. Free gas saturation as low as 5% in the three-phase zone is enough to make the BSR visible in synthetic seismograms regardless of the hydrate saturation. Results of this thesis are significant for resource prospecting based on seismic data, drilling hazard identification, as well as the importance of hydrate as a potential source of energy and its influence on the global climate. For seismic prospecting, the presence of a three-phase zone inferred from BSR characteristic indicates the minimum methane flux into the base of the hydrate stability zone, and can be used to infer whether sufficient methane is available to form hydrate. For drilling hazard identification, the BSR characteristic indicates a possible shallower occurrence of gas than would be estimated under the assumption of a discrete phase boundary.Item Physical controls on hydrate saturation distribution in the subsurface(2012-12) Behseresht, Javad; Bryant, Steven L; Mohanty, Kishore K; Hesse, Marc A; Prodanović, Maša; Sharma, Mukul MMany Arctic gas hydrate reservoirs such as those of the Prudhoe Bay and Kuparuk River area on the Alaska North Slope (ANS) are believed originally to be natural gas accumulations converted to hydrate after being placed in the gas hydrate stability zone (GHSZ) in response to ancient climate cooling. A mechanistic model is proposed to predict/explain hydrate saturation distribution in “converted free gas” hydrate reservoirs in sub-permafrost formations in the Arctic. This 1-D model assumes that a gas column accumulates and subsequently is converted to hydrate. The processes considered are the volume change during hydrate formation and consequent fluid phase transport within the column, the descent of the base of gas hydrate stability zone through the column, and sedimentological variations with depth. Crucially, the latter enable disconnection of the gas column during hydrate formation, which leads to substantial variation in hydrate saturation distribution. One form of variation observed in Arctic hydrate reservoirs is that zones of very low hydrate saturations are interspersed abruptly between zones of large hydrate saturations. The model was applied on data from Mount Elbert well, a gas hydrate stratigraphic test well drilled in the Milne Point area of the ANS. The model is consistent with observations from the well log and interpretations of seismic anomalies in the area. The model also predicts that a considerable amount of fluid (of order one pore volume of gaseous and/or aqueous phases) must migrate within or into the gas column during hydrate formation. This work offers the first explanatory model of its kind that addresses "converted free gas reservoirs" from a new angle: the effect of volume change during hydrate formation combined with capillary entry pressure variation versus depth. Mechanisms by which the fluid movement, associated with the hydrate formation, could have occurred are also analyzed. As the base of the GHSZ descends through the sediment, hydrate forms within the GHSZ. The net volume reduction associated with hydrate formation creates a “sink” which drives flow of gaseous and aqueous phases to the hydrate formation zone. Flow driven by saturation gradients plays a key role in creating reservoirs of large hydrate saturations, as observed in Mount Elbert. Viscous-dominated pressure-driven flow of gaseous and aqueous phases cannot explain large hydrate saturations originated from large-saturation gas accumulations. The mode of hydrate formation for a wide range of rate of hydrate formation, rate of descent of the BGHSZ and host sediments characteristics are analyzed and characterized based on dimensionless groups. The proposed transport model is also consistent with field data from hydrate-bearing sand units in Mount Elbert well. Results show that not only the petrophysical properties of the host sediment but also the rate of hydrate formation and the rate of temperature cooling at the surface contribute greatly to the final hydrate saturation profiles.Item Study of methane hydrate formation and distribution in Arctic regions : from pore scale to field scale(2011-08) Peng, Yao, 1983-; Bryant, Steven L.; Prodanović, Maša; DiCarlo, David; Sharma, Mukul M.; Flemings, PeterWe study hydrate formation and distribution in two scales. Pore-scale network modeling for drainage and imbibition and 1D field-scale sedimentological model are proposed for such purpose. The network modeling is applied in a novel way to obtain the possible hydrate and fluid saturations in the porous medium. The sedimentological model later uses these results to predict field-scale hydrate distribution. In the model proposed by (Behseresht et al., 2009a), gas charge in the reservoir firstly takes place when BGHSZ (Base of Gas Hydrate Stability Zone) is still above the reservoir. Methane gas migrates from deep source and is contained in the reservoir by the capillary barrier. The gas saturation distribution is determined by gas/water capillary pressure, and is modeled by network modeling of drainage. When gas charge is complete, the gas column in the reservoir is assumed to be disconnected from the deep source, and BGHSZ begins to descend. Hydrate formation is assumed to occur only at BGHSZ. At the microscopic scale it first occurs at the methane/water interface. A review of the possible modes of growth leads to the assumption that hydrate grows into the gaseous phase. It is assumed that the hydrate formation at the pore scale follows the path of imbibition process (displacement of gas phase by aqueous phase), and can be predicted by the network modeling of imbibition. Two scenarios, corresponding to slow and fast influx of water to the BGHSZ, are proposed to give the maximum and minimum hydrate saturations, respectively. The volume of hydrate is smaller than the total volume of gas and water that are converted at fixed temperature and pressure. Therefore, vacancy is created to draw free gas from below the BGHSZ and water into the BGHSZ. BGHSZ keeps descending and converting all the gas at BGHSZ into hydrate. The final hydrate profile has a characteristic pattern, in which a region of high hydrate saturation sits on top of a region with low hydrate saturation. This pattern agrees with the observation in Mount Elbert and Mallik sites. The low hydrate saturation in certain regions with good lithology shows that hydrate distribution is not only controlled by the quality of lithology, but also the gas redistribution during hydrate formation.