Theory,technology and practice of shale gas three-dimensional development:A case study of Fuling shale gas field in Sichuan Basin,SW China

In the Jiaoshiba block of the Fuling shale gas field,the employed reserves and recovery factor by primary well pattern are low,no obvious barrier is found in the development layer series,and layered development is difficult.Based on the understanding of the main factors controlling shale gas enrichment and high production,the theory and technology of shale gas three-dimensional development,such as fine description and modeling of shale gas reservoir,optimization of three-dimensional development strategy,highly efficient drilling with dense well pattern,precision fracturing and real-time control,are discussed.Three-dimensional development refers to the application of optimal and fast drilling and volume fracturing technologies,depending upon the sedimentary characteristics,reservoir characteristics and sweet spot distribution of shale gas,to form"artificial gas reservoir"in a multidimensional space,so as to maximize the employed reserves,recovery factor and yield rate of shale gas development.In the research on shale gas three-dimensional development,the geological+engineering sweet spot description is fundamental,the collaborative optimization of natural fractures and artificial fractures is critical,and the improvement of speed and efficiency in drilling and fracturing engineering is the guarantee.Through the implementation of three-dimensional development,the overall recovery factor in the Jiaoshiba block has increased from 12.6%to 23.3%,providing an important support for the continuous and stable production of the Fuling shale gas field.

Formation of overpressure system and its relationship with the distribution of large gas fields in typical foreland basins in central and western China

Based on the data of measured formation pressure, drilling fluid density of key exploration wells and calculated pressure by well logging, combined with the analysis of natural gas geological conditions, the characteristics and formation mechanisms of formation fluid overpressure systems in different foreland basins and the relationship between overpressure systems and large-scale gas accumulation are discussed.(1) The formation mechanisms of formation overpressure in different foreland basins are different. The formation mechanism of overpressure in the Kuqa foreland basin is mainly the overpressure sealing of plastic salt gypsum layer and hydrocarbon generation pressurization in deep–ultra-deep layers, that in the southern Junggar foreland basin is mainly hydrocarbon generation pressurization and under-compaction sealing, and that in the western Sichuan foreland basin is mainly hydrocarbon generation pressurization and paleo-fluid overpressure residual.(2) There are three common characteristics in foreland basins, i.e. superimposed development of multi-type overpressure and multi-layer overpressure, strong–extremely strong overpressure developed in a closed foreland thrust belt, and strong–extremely strong overpressure developed in a deep foreland uplift area.(3) There are four regional overpressure sealing and storage mechanisms, which play an important role in controlling large gas fields, such as the overpressure of plastic salt gypsum layer, the overpressure formed by hydrocarbon generation pressurization, the residual overpressure after Himalayan uplift and denudation, and the under-compaction overpressure.(4) Regional overpressure is an important guarantee for forming large gas fields, the sufficient gas source, large-scale reservoir and trap development in overpressure system are the basic conditions for forming large gas fields, and the overpressure system is conducive to forming deep to ultra-deep large gas fields.

Research on evolution of mining pressure field and fracture field and gas emission features

The relation between mining pressure field-fracture field and gas emission of working face is analyzed, and the concept that there is a stress point （or strain point） among permeability of coal is presented. It is believed that the mutation of coal permeability caused by the sudden loading or unloading of working face roof as periodic weighting occurs is the main reason that a lot of gas pour into the working face. Based on the above concept, the relation is established among abutment pressure during periodie weighting, permeability of coal seam and gas emission, and relation graph is drawn. Then the loading and unloading features of coal at the moment of fracture and non-fracture of main roof are revealed. And finally it is presented that the process of sudden loading or unloading as periodic weighting occurs plays an important role in rupture propagation of coal, analytical movement of gas and gas emission.

Tight gas production model considering TPG as a function of pore pressure,permeability and water saturation

Threshold pressure gradient has great importance in efficient tight gas field development as well as for research and laboratory experiments.This experimental study is carried out to investigate the threshold pressure gradient in detail.Experiments are carried out with and without back pressure so that the effect of pore pressure on threshold pressure gradient may be observed.The trend of increasing or decreasing the threshold pressure gradient is totally opposite in the cases of considering and not considering the pore pressure.The results demonstrate that the pore pressure of tight gas reservoirs has great influence on threshold pressure gradient.The effects of other parameters like permeability and water saturation,in the presence of pore pressure,on threshold pressure gradient are also examined which show that the threshold pressure gradient increases with either a decrease in permeability or an increase in water saturation.Two new correlations of threshold pressure gradient on the basis of pore pressure and permeability,and pore pressure and water saturation,are also introduced.Based on these equations,new models for tight gas production are proposed.The gas slip correction factor is also considered during derivation of this proposed tight gas production models.Inflow performance relationship curves based on these proposed models show that production rates and absolute open flow potential are always be overestimated while ignoring the threshold pressure gradients.

Numerical simulation study of gob air leakage field and gas migration regularity in downlink ventilation

Aiming at the issue that mass of gas emission from mining gob and the gas exceeded in working face, gob air leakage field and gas migration regularity in downlink ventilation was studied. In consideration of the influence of natural wind pressure to analyze the stope face differential pressure, gob air leakage field distribution and gas migration regularity theoretically. Established a two-dimensional physical model with one source and one doab, and applied computational fluid dynamics analysis software Fluent to do numerical simulation, analyzed and contrasted to the areas of gob air leakage on size and gas emission from gob to working face on strength when using the downlink ventilation and uplink ventilation. When applied downward ventilation in stope face, the air leakage field of gob nearly working face, and the air leakage intensity were smaller than uplink, this can effectively reduce the gas emission from gob to working face; when used downlink ventilation, the air leakage airflow carry the lower amount of gas to doab than uplink ventilation, and more easily to mix the gas, reduced the possibility of gas accumulation in upper comer and the stratified flows, it can provide protection to mine with safe and effective production.

Effects of Gas Flow Field on Clogging Phenomenon in Close-Coupled Vortical Loop Slit Gas Atomization

In order to study the basic characteristics of gas flow field in the atomizing chamber near the nozzle outlet of the vortical loop slit atomizer and its influence mechanism on clogging phenomenon,the computational fluid dynamics(CFD)software Fluent is used to conduct a numerical simulation of the gas flow field in the atomizing chamber near the nozzle outlet of this atomizer under different annular slit widths,different atomization gas pressures and different protrusion lengths of the melt delivery tube. The results show that under atomization gas pressure p=4.5 MPa,the greater the annular slit width D,the lower the static temperature near the central hole outlet at the front end of the melt delivery tube,and the smaller the aspirating pressure at the front end of the melt delivery tube. These features can effectively prevent the occurrence of the clogging phenomenon of metallic melt. Under an annular slit width of D=1.2 mm,when the atomization gas pressure satisfies 1 MPa ≤ p ≤ 2 MPa and increases gradually,the aspirating pressure at the front end of the melt delivery tube will decline rapidly. This can prevent the clogging phenomenon of metallic melt. However,when the atomization gas pressure p >2 MPa,the greater the atomization gas pressure,the lower the static temperature near the central hole outlet at the front end of the melt delivery tube,and the greater the aspirating pressure at the front end of the melt delivery tube. Hence,the effect of preventing the solidification-induced clogging phenomenon of metallic melt is restricted. When atomization gas pressure is p =4.5 MPa and annular slit width is D=1.2 mm,the greater the protrusion length H of the melt delivery tube,and the smaller the aspirating pressure at its front end. The static temperature near the central hole that can be observed in its front end is approximate to effectively prevent the occurrence of clogging phenomenon of metallic melt. However,because of the small aspirating pressure,the metallic melt flows into the atomizing chamber from the central hole at the front end of the melt delivery tube at an increasing speed and the gas-melt ratio in the mass flow rate is reduced,which is not conducive to the improvement of atomization performance.

Key technologies and practice for gas field storage facility construction of complex geological conditions in China

In view of complex geological characteristics and alternating loading conditions associated with cyclic large amount of gas injection and withdrawal in underground gas storage(UGS) of China, a series of key gas storage construction technologies were established, mainly including UGS site selection and evaluation, key index design, well drilling and completion, surface engineering and operational risk warning and assessment, etc. The effect of field application was discussed and summarized. Firstly, trap dynamic sealing capacity evaluation technology for conversion of UGS from the fault depleted or partially depleted gas reservoirs. A key index design method mainly based on the effective gas storage capacity design for water flooded heterogeneous gas reservoirs was proposed. To effectively guide the engineering construction of UGS, the safe well drilling, high quality cementing and high pressure and large flow surface injection and production engineering optimization suitable for long-term alternate loading condition and ultra-deep and ultra-low temperature formation were developed. The core surface equipment like high pressure gas injection compressor can be manufactured by our own. Last, the full-system operational risk warning and assessment technology for UGS was set up. The above 5 key technologies have been utilized in site selection, development scheme design, engineering construction and annual operations of 6 UGS groups, e.g. the Hutubi UGS in Xinjiang. To date, designed main indexes are highly consistent with actural performance, the 6 UGS groups have the load capacity of over 7.5 billion cubic meters of working gas volume and all the storage facilities have been running efficiently and safely.

Gas expansion caused by formation uplifting and its effects on tight gas accumulation:A case study of Sulige gas field in Ordos Basin,NW China

Gas expansion caused by significant exhumation in the Sulige gas field in the Ordos Basin since Late Cretaceous and its effects on hydrocarbon accumulation have been investigated systematically based on comprehensive analysis of geochemical,fluid inclusion and production data.The results indicate that gas volume expansion since the Late Cretaceous was the driving force for adjustment and secondary charging of tight sandstone gas reservoirs in the Sulige gas field of the Ordos Basin.The gas retained in the source rocks expanded in volume,resulting in gas re-expulsion,migration and secondary charging into reservoirs,while the gas volume expansion in the tight reservoirs caused the increase of gas saturation,gas-bearing area and gas column height,which worked together to increase the gas content of the reservoir and bring about large-scale gas accumulation events.The Sulige gas field had experienced a two-stage accumulation process,burial before the end of Early Cretaceous and uplifting since the Late Cretaceous.In the burial stage,natural gas was driven by hydrocarbon generation overpressure to migrate and accumulate,while in the uplifting stage,the gas volume expansion drove internal adjustment inside gas reservoirs and secondary charging to form new reservoirs.On the whole,the gas reservoir adjustment and secondary charging during uplifting stage is more significant in the eastern gas field than that in the west,which is favorable for forming gas-rich area.

Experimental study and theoretical analysis on the effect of electric field on gas explosion and its propagation

The effect of the electric field with different intensity on explosion wave pressure and flame propagation velocity of gas explosion was experimentally studied, and the effect of electric field on gas explosion and its propagation was theoretically analyzed from heat transportation, mass transportation, and reaction process of gas explosion. The results show that the electric field can affect gas explosion by enhancing explosion intensity and explosion pressure, thus increasing flame velocity. The electric field can offer energy to the gas explosion reaction; the effect of the electric field on gas explosion increases with the increase of electric field intensity. The electric field can increase mass transfer action, heat transfer action, convection effects, diffusion coefficient, and the reaction system entropy, which make the turbulence of gas explosion in electric field increase; therefore, the electric field can improve flame combustion velocity and flame propagation velocity, release more energy, increase shock wave energy, and then promote the gas explosion and its propagation.

Gas seepage equation of deep mined coal seams and its application

In order to obtain a gas seepage law of deep mined coal seams, according to the properties of coalbed methane seepage in in-situ stress and geothermal temperature fields, the gas seepage equation of deep mined coal seams with the Klinkenberg effect was obtained by confirming the coatbed methane permeability in in-situ stress and geothermal temperature fields. Aimed at the condition in which the coal seams have or do not have an outcrop and outlet on the ground, the application of the gas seepage equation of deep mined coal seams in in-situ stress and geothermal temperature fields on the gas pressure calculation of deep mined coal seams was investigated. The comparison between calculated and measured results indicates that the calculation method of gas pressure, based on the gas seepage equation of deep mined coal seams in in-situ stress and geothermal temperature fields can accu- rately be identical with the measured values and theoretically perfect the calculation method of gas pressure of deep mined coal seams.

Effect of atomization gas pressure variation on gas flow field in supersonic gas atomization

In this paper, a computational fluid flow model was adopted to investigate the effect of varying atomization gas pressure (P0) on the gas flow field in supersonic gas atomization. The influence of P0 on static pressure and velocity magnitude of the central axis of the flow field was also examined. The numerical results indicate that the maximum gas velocity within the gas field increases with increasing P0. The aspiration pressure (ΔP) is found to decrease as P0 increases at a lower atomization gas pressure. However, at a higher atomization gas pressure increasing P0 causes the opposite: the higher atomization gas pressure, the higher aspiration pressure. The alternation of ΔP is caused by the variations of stagnation point pressure and location of Mach disk, while hardly by the location of stagnation point. A radical pressure gradient is formed along the tip of the delivery tube and increases as P0 increases.

Origin of abnormal high pressure and its relationship with hydrocarbon accumulation in the Dina 2 Gas Field, Kuqa Depression

Based on distribution of formation pressure by indirect estimation and formation testing,this study investigates origin of abnormal high pressure in the Dina 2 Gas Field in the Kuqa Depression in combination with the latest research findings.Contribution of major overpressure mechanisms to this gas field is estimated,and generation of the abnormal high pressure as well as its relationship with natural gas accumulation is explored.Disequilibrium compaction,tectonic stress,and overpressure transfer are the major overpressure mechanisms.Overpressure transfer resulted from vertical opening of faults and folding is the most important cause for the overpressure.Gas accumulation and abnormal high pressure generation in the reservoirs of the Dina 2 Gas Field show synchroneity.During the early oil-gas charge in the Kangcun stage,the reservoirs were generally normal pressure systems.In the Kuqa deposition stage,rapid deposition caused disequilibrium compaction and led to generation of excess pressure(approximately 5-10 MPa)in the reservoirs.During the Kuqa Formation denudation stage to the Quaternary,reservoir overpressure was greatly increased to approximately 40-50 MPa as a result of vertical pressure transfer by episodic fault activation,lateral overpressure transfer by folding and horizontal tectonic stress due to intense tectonic compression.The last stage was the major period of ultra-high pressure generation and gas accumulation in the Dina 2 Gas Field.

Study on an novel composite gel material solving serious lost circulations and pressurization sealing

Lost circulations have presented great challenges to the petroleum industry, causing great expenditures of cash and time to fighting the problem. Probably the most problematic situations are the naturally fractured formations where the operator may face total loss with no mud return in the annular. The voids or large fracture encountered in this case are often far too large to be plugged with conventional Lost Circulation Material. This paper will give a detailed introduction on a novel composite gel material usable to control severe losses and pressurization sealing. The plugging mechanics of this new composite gel material, which is different from conventional lost circulation materials, were elaborated as well. In addition, the properties of the new composite gel material such as thermostability, sealing strength and bearing resistance are characterized with specific experimental devices. The experimental results proved that the breakdown pressure of the new plugging reached more than 20MPa, and the maximum degraded temperature can be exceed 130℃. The field application at 4 wells in Puguang gas field, SINOPEC, demonstrated that the new composite gel material solved the serious loss in Ordovician carbonate fractured formation successfully and guaranteed the following completion cement operation smoothly. The composite gel sealing slurries, which was easily prepared on site, gives remarkable properties regarding pumping through drill pipes, adjustment of setting time and excellent sealing strength of the lost zone sealing, additionally, the whole pressurization sealing process was complicated within only ten hours. The on-site results show that the plugging ratio of the new composite gel was reached 100%, and the success rate of sealing operation kept above 80%.Thus the new LCM can guarantee safe drilling jobs and save operation cost more effectively.

Compensation of Pressure Enthalpy Effects on Temperature Fields for Throttling of High-Pressure Real Gas

For the pressure enthalpy of high pressure pneumatics, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation based on ideal gas assumption fails to obtain the real temperature information. Therefore, we propose a method to compensate the pressure enthalpy of throttling for CFD simulation based on ideal gas assumption. Firstly, the pressure enthalpy is calculated for the pressure range of 0.101 to 30 MPa and the temperature range of 190 to 298 K based on Soave-Redlich-Kwong (S-R-K) equation. Then, a polynomial fitting equation is applied to practical application in the above mentioned range. The basic idea of the compensation method is to convert the pressure enthalpy difference between inlet air and nodes into the compensation temperature. In the above temperature and pressure range, the compensated temperature is close to the real one, and the relative temperature drop error is below 10%. This error is mainly caused by the velocity difference of the orifice between the real and ideal gas models. Finally, this compensation method performs an icing analysis for practical high pressure slide pilot valve. © 2017, Shanghai Jiaotong University and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Petroleum geological characteristics of Kela-2 gas field

The Kela-2 gas field is located in the center ofKelasu structural belt in Kuqa Depression. This trap is oneof a series of traps in the folded belts which are distributed ina string of pearls in the dual structure. The primary gas-bearing layers are sandstone of Lower Cretaceous K1bswhile the secondary layers are dolomite member and gluten-ite member of Lower Tertiary E1-2km and sandstone ofLower Cretaceous K1b. The main component of natural gasis methane whose content is higher than 97%. It is charac-terized by dry gas whose source rock is Jurassic coal meas-ure. The Kela-2 structural trap was formed during the Xiyuperiod and then became a reservoir in the late time. The res-ervoir formed late and the thick seal rock of Lower Tertiarygipsmantle are the avail reason why the giant Kela-2 gasfield has been well kept. The abnormal high pressure of theKela-2 gas field results from the strong structural compres-sion in the northern part during the Xiyu period.

Experimental research on reservoir sensitivity to stress and impacts on productivity in Kela 2 Gas Field

Kela 2 Gas Field, with high formation pressure (74.35MPa), high pressure coeffi-cient (2.022) and difficulty of potential test and evaluation, is the largest integrated proved dry gas reservoir in China so far and the principal source for West-East Gas Development Project. In order to correctly evaluate the elastic-plastic deformation of rocks caused by the pressure decline during production, some researches, as the experiment on reservoir sensitivity to stress of gas filed with abnormal high pressure, are made. By testing the rock mechanic properties, porosities and permeabilities at different temperature and pressure of 342 core samples from 5 wells in this area, the variations of petro-physical properties at changing pressure are analyzed, and the ap-plicable inspection relationship is concluded. The average productivity curve with the reservoir sensitivity to stress is plotted on the basis of the research, integrated with the field-wide produc-tivity equation. The knowledge lays a foundation for the gas well productivity evaluation in the field and the gas field development plan, and provides effective techniques and measures for basic research on the development of similar gas fields.

Reserve and Pressure Change of Paleo-oil Reservoir in Puguang Area, Sichuan Basin

The Puguang （普光） gas field is the largest gas field found in marine carbonates in China. The Feixianguan （飞仙关） and Changxing （长兴） reservoirs are two such reservoirs that had been buried to a depth of about 7 000 m and experienced maximum temperature of up to 220 ℃ before uplift to the present-day depth of 5 000-5 500 m, with present-day thermal maturity between 2.0% and 3.0% equivalent vitrinite reflectance （Ro）. Bitumen staining is ubiquitous throughout the Feixianguan and Changxing formations, with the greatest concentrations in zones with the highest porosity and permeability, suggesting that the solid bitumen is the result of in-situ cracking of oil. According to the distribution of bitumen in the core, the paleo-oil boundary can be approximately determined. The paleo-oil resource is calculated to be about （0.61-0.92） × 10^9 t （average 0.76 × 10^9 t）, and the cracked gas volume is about （380.80-595.80） × 10^9 m^3 （average 488.30 × 10^9 m^3）; at least 58.74% of cracked gas is preserved in Puguang gas field. The study area experienced not only the cracking of oil but also thermochemical sulfate reduction, resulting in large quantities of nonhydrocarbon gas, with about 15.2% H2S and 8.3% CO2, together with the structural reconfiguration. During the whole process, the great change of volume and pressure compels the PVTsim modeling software to simulate various factors, such as the cracking of oil, the thermochemical sulfate reduction （TSR） and the tectonic uplift in both isolated and open geological conditions, respectively. The results show that although any one of these factors may induce greater pressure changes in an isolated system than in a closed system, the oil cracking and C3＋ involving TSR lead to overpressure during the early stage of gas reservoir. Therefore, the tectonic uplift and the methane-dominated TSR, as well as the semi-open system contribute to the reducing pressure resulting in the current normal formation pressure.

Reservoir accumulation conditions and key exploration&development technologies for Keshen gas field in Tarim Basin

The Keshen gas field is located in the central part of Kuqa foreland thrust belt in Tarim Basin,and is another large gas field discovered in Kuqa depression after Kela 2 gas field.Since the breakthrough in 2008,a number of large and medium scale gas reservoirs including Keshen 2,Keshen 5 and Keshen 8 have been discovered,that are characterized by ultra depth,ultra-high pressure,ultra-low porosity,ultra-low permeability,high temperature and high pressure.With natural gas geological reserves of nearly trillion cubic meters and production capacity of nearly 5.5 billion cubic meters,the Keshen gas field is the main natural gas producing area in Tarim Oilfield.The Keshen gas field is located in a series of thrusting imbrication structures in the Kelasu structural belt of Kuqa foreland thrust belt.The salt roof structure,plastic rheology of salt beds and pre-salt faulted anticlinal structure constitute the large wedge-shaped thrust body.The thick delta sandstone of the Cretaceous Bashijike Formation is widely distributed,and it forms the superior reservoir-caprock combination with overlying Paleogene thick gypsum-salt bed.The deep Jurassic-Triassic oil and gas migrate vertically along fault system formed in Late Himalaya,break through the thick Cretaceous mudstone and move laterally along the fracture system of the pre-salt reservoirs,to form anticline and fault anticline high pressure reservoir groups.Through near ten years of studies,the three-dimensional seismic acquisition and processing technology for complex mountainous areas,extrusion salt-related structural modeling technology and fractured low-porosity sandstone reservoir evaluation technology have been established,which lay a foundation for realization of oil and gas exploration objectives.Logging acquisition and evaluation technology for high temperature,high pressure,ultra-deep and low-porosity sandstone gas reservoirs,and efficient development technology for fractured tight sandstone gas reservoirs have been developed,which provide a technical support for efficient exploration&development and rapid production of the Keshen gas field.

Prediction of wax precipitation region in wellbore during deep water oil well testing

During deep water oil well testing, the low temperature environment is easy to cause wax precipitation, which affects the normal operation of the test and increases operating costs and risks. Therefore, a numerical method for predicting the wax precipitation region in oil strings was proposed based on the temperature and pressure fields of deep water test string and the wax precipitation calculation model. And the factors affecting the wax precipitation region were analyzed. The results show that: the wax precipitation region decreases with the increase of production rate, and increases with the decrease of geothermal gradient, increase of water depth and drop of water-cut of produced fluid, and increases slightly with the increase of formation pressure. Due to the effect of temperature and pressure fields, wax precipitation region is large in test strings at the beginning of well production. Wax precipitation region gradually increases with the increase of shut-in time. These conclusions can guide wax prevention during the testing of deep water oil well, to ensure the success of the test.

Hydrogen Sensing Property of Lanthanum Complex Fluoride

Four potentiometer sensor cells have been prepared by using La0.95Pb0.05F2.95 as solid electrolyte(SE) and various materials as electrodes. The sensor cell `Bi(BiF3)|SE|Pt' exhibits the best performance with its 90% response time as short as 75 s to 100 Pa H2 in air at room temperature and with its linear decrease of electromotive force (EMF) with an increase of the logarithm of hydrogen partial pressure in the experimental range. The sensor cell shows weaker response to CO.