Influences of pore fluid on gas production from hydrate-bearing reservoir by depressurization

In addition to the temperature and pressure conditions,the pore fluid composition and migration behavior are also crucial to control hydrate decomposition in the exploitation process.In this work,to investigate the effects of these factors,a series of depressurization experiments were carried out in a visible one-dimensional reactor,using hydrate reservoir samples with water saturations ranging from 20%to 65%.The results showed a linear relationship between gas production rates and gas saturations of the reservoir,suggesting that a larger gas-phase space was conducive to hydrate decomposition and gas outflow.Therefore,the rapid water production in the early stage of hydrate exploitation could release more gas-phase space in the water-rich reservoir,which in turn improved the gas production efficiency.Meanwhile,the spatiotemporal evolution of pore fluids could lead to partial accelerated decomposition or secondary formation of hydrates.In the unsealed reservoir,the peripheral water infiltration kept reservoir at a high water saturation,which hindered the overall production process and caused higher water production.Importantly,depressurization assisted with the N2 sweep could displace the pore water rapidly.According to the results,it is recommended that using the short-term N2 sweep as an auxiliary means in the early stage of depressurization to expand the gas-phase space in order to achieve the highest production efficiency.

Hydrate formation from liquid CO_(2) in a glass beads bed

CO_(2)sequestration in marine sediments as solid hydrates is a potential way to capture and store anthropogenic CO_(2).In this study,hydrate formation from liquid CO_(2)in marine sediments was simulated in a glass beads bed,and the factors affecting the kinetics of hydrate formation were investigated.The results indicated that the rapid initial hydrate formation with a high driving force always increases the mass transfer resistance,which slows down hydrate growth.The final ratio of water conversion is higher under conditions of low temperature and higher pressure.A smaller particle size is conductive to initial CO_(2)hydrate growth,but the water conversion ratio in a bed with larger particles is slightly higher.Compared with other factors,the change in water saturation has an obvious effect on the final water conversion.To inhibit the initial hydrate formation during the injection process,in this paper,a kinetic inhibitor is proposed for pre-injection into marine sediments.This work shows that at a low pressure,a lowconcentration inhibitor has an obvious inhibition effect on hydrate growth.However,at a high pressure,it is necessary to increase the concentration of inhibitor to produce an obvious inhibition effect.

Experimental investigation on using CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion with high water cut in enhanced oil recovery

CO_(2) emulsions used for EOR have received a lot of interest because of its good performance on CO_(2)mobility reduction.However,most of them have been focusing on the high quality CO_(2) emulsion(high CO_(2) fraction),while CO_(2) emulsion with high water cut has been rarely researched.In this paper,we carried out a comprehensive experimental study of using high water cut CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion for enhancing oil recovery.Firstly,a nonionic surfactant,alkyl glycosides(APG),was selected to stabilize CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion,and the corresponding morphology and stability were evaluated with a transparent PVT cell.Subsequently,plugging capacity and apparent viscosity of CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion were measured systematically by a sand pack displacement apparatus connected with a 1.95-m long capillary tube.Furthermore,a high water cut(40 vol%) CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion was selected for flooding experiments in a long sand pack and a core sample,and the oil recovery,the rate of oil recovery,and the pressure gradients were analyzed.The results indicated that APG had a good performance on emulsifying and stabilizing CO_(2) emulsion.An inversion from H_(2)O/CO_(2) emulsion to CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion with the increase in water cut was confirmed.CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsions with lower water cuts presented higher apparent viscosity,while the optimal plugging capacity of CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion occurred at a certain water cut.Eventually,the displacement using CO_(2)/H_(2)O emulsion provided 18.98% and 13.36% additional oil recovery than that using pure CO_(2) in long sand pack and core tests,respectively.This work may provide guidelines for EOR using CO_(2) emulsions with high water cut.