Assessment of Gas Production Potential from Hydrate Reservoir in Qilian Mountain Permafrost Using Five-Spot Horizontal Well System

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the production behaviors of gas hydrate at site DK-2 in the Qilian Mountain permafrost using the novel five-spot well (5S) system by means of numerical simulation. The whole system is composed of several identical units, and each single unit consists of one injection well and four production wells. All the wells are placed horizontally in the hydrate deposit. The combination method of depressurization and thermal stimulation is employed for hydrate dissociation in the system. Simulation results show that favorable gas production and hydrate dissociation rates, gas-to-water ratio, and energy ratio can be acquired using this kind of multi-well system under suitable heat injection and depressurization driving forces, and the water production rate is manageable in the entire production process under current technology. In addition, another two kinds of two-spot well (2S) systems have also been employed for comparison. It is found that the 5S system will be more commercially profitable than the 2S configurations for gas production under the same operation conditions. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the gas production performance is dependent on the heat injection rate and the well spacing of the 5S system.

Keywords

• gas hydrate
• depressurization
• thermal stimulation
• five-spot well
• Qilian Mountain permafrost