Design and feasibility analysis of a new completion monitoring technical scheme for natural gas hydrate production tests

As a prerequisite and a guarantee for safe and efficient natural gas hydrates(NGHs)exploitation,it is imperative to effectively determine the mechanical properties of NGHs reservoirs and clarify the law of the change in the mechanical properties with the dissociation of NGHs during NGHs production tests by depressurization.Based on the development of Japan’s two offshore NGHs production tests in vertical wells,this study innovatively proposed a new subsea communication technology-accurate directional connection using a wet-mate connector.This helps to overcome the technical barrier to the communication between the upper and lower completion of offshore wells.Using this new communication technology,this study explored and designed a mechanical monitoring scheme for lower completion(sand screens).This scheme can be used to monitor the tensile stress and radial compressive stress of sand screens caused by NGHs reservoirs in real time,thus promoting the technical development for the rapid assessment and real-time feedback of the in-situ mechanical response of NGHs reservoirs during offshore NGHs production tests by depressurization.

Lateral bearing characteristics of subsea wellhead assembly in the hydrate trial production engineering

Conductor and suction anchor are the key equipment providing bearing capacity in the field of deep-water drilling or offshore engineering,which have the advantages of high operation efficiency and short construction period.In order to drill a horizontal well in the shallow hydrate reservoir in the deep water,the suction anchor wellhead assembly is employed to undertake the main vertical bearing capacity in the second round of hydrate trial production project,so as to reduce the conductor running depth and heighten the kick-off point position.However,the deformation law of the deep-water suction anchor wellhead assembly under the moving load of the riser is not clear,and it is necessary to understand the lateral bearing characteristics to guide the design of its structural scheme.Based on 3D solid finite element method,the solid finite element model of the suction anchor wellhead assembly is established.In the model,the seabed soil is divided into seven layers,the contact between the wellhead assembly and the soil is simulated,and the vertical load and bending moment are applied to the wellhead node to simulate the riser movement when working in the deep water.The lateral bearing stability of conventional wellhead assembly and suction anchor wellhead assembly under the influence of wellhead load is discussed.The analysis results show that the bending moment is the main factor affecting the lateral deformation of the wellhead string;the anti-bending performance from increasing the outer conductor diameter is better than that from increasing the conductor wall thickness;for the subsea wellhead,the suction anchor obviously improves the lateral bearing capacity and reduces the lateral deformation.The conduct of the suction anchor wellhead assembly still needs to be lowered to a certain depth that below the maximum disturbed depth to ensure the lateral bearing stability,Thus,a method for the minimum conductor running depth for the suction anchor wellhead assembly is developed.The field implementations show that compared with the first round of hydrate trial production project,the conductor running depth is increased by 9.42 m,and there is no risk of wellhead overturning during the trial production.The method for determining the minimum conductor running depth in this paper is feasible and will still play an important role in the subsequent hydrate exploration and development.