METHANE PRODUCTION STRATEGIES FOR OCEANIC GAS HYDRATE RESERVOIRS

Gas hydrates can be an efficient replacement for the conventional fossil fuels, as the large amount of methane gas is trapped in the gas hydrate reservoirs that can be used as a potential source of energy. In this study, we investigate the impact of a combination of horizontal and vertical wells on the gas production from oceanic Class-2, unconfined gas hydrate reservoirs. An In-house multicomponent, multiphase, thermal, 3-D finite volume simulator is used. Different locations of horizontal and vertical wells as warm water injectors and methane gas producers are investigated. For unconfined reservoirs, depressurization is found to be ineffective with horizontal and vertical wells. Horizontal warm water injectors are more effective for gas production. The gas production increases from 22% of original gas in place (OIGP) when vertical injector is used to 48% of OGIP when horizontal injector is used.