Discussion on natural gas hydrate production technologies

Abstract

Abstract: In the recent years, more and more countries have focused on natural gas hydrate (NGH). In this paper, numerous NGH production technologies and patents at home and abroad were reviewed and the principles of NGH production were presented. Moreover, some conventional production technologies (e.g. thermal stimulation, depressurization, chemical inhibitor and CO2-CH4 exchange) were compared and analyzed for their advantages and disadvantages. Then, several innovative technologies (e.g. hot water injection with a pair of horizontal wells, hot water huff & puff with single well, partial oxidation, electrical heating assisted depressurization, and CO2 swapping depressurization) were discussed in view of principles, innovations, advantages and disadvantages. It is concluded that most of the innovative technologies are based on the thermal production technologies for heavy oil and oil sand etc., and they are usually designed with the combination of depressurization and thermal stimulation to increase the thermal contact area in reservoir and to improve the heat utilization efficiency.

Key words: natural gas hydrate (NGH), production technology, thermal stimulation, partial oxidation, innovation

Si Na, An Lei, Deng Hui, Sun Jian, Guang Xinjun. Discussion on natural gas hydrate production technologies[J]. China Petroleum Exploration, 2016, 21(5): 52-61.

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