Numerical Investigation of Combined Production of Natural Gas Hydrate and Conventional Gas

Natural gas hydrate(NGH)is generally produced and accumulated together with the underlying conventional gas.Therefore,optimizing the production technology of these two gases should be seen as a relevant way to effectively reduce the exploitation cost of the gas hydrate.In this study,three types of models accounting for the coexistence of these gases are considered.Type A considers the upper hydrate-bearing layer(HBL)adjacent to the lower conventional gas layer(CGL);with the Type B a permeable interlayer exists between the upper HBL and the lower CGL;with the type C there is an impermeable interlayer between the upper HBL and the lower CGL.The production performances associated with the above three models are calculated under different conditions,including only a depressurized HBL(only HBL DP);only a depressurized CGL(only CGL DP);and both the HBL and the CGL being depressurized(HBL+CGL DP).The results show that for Type A and Type B coexistence accumulation models,when only HBL or CGL is depressurized,the gas from the other layer will flow into the production layer due to the pressure difference between the two layers.In the coexistence accumulation model of type C,the cumulative gas production is much lower than that of Type A and Type B,regardless of whether only HBL DP,only CGL DP,or HBL+CGL DP are considered.This indicates that the impermeable interlayer restricts the cross-flow of gas between HBL and CGL.For three different coexistence accumulation models,CGL DP has the largest gas-to-water ratio.

Experimental study on solid particle migration and production behaviors during marine natural gas hydrate dissociation by depressurization

Sand production is one of the main obstacles restricting gas extraction efficiency and safety from marine natural gas hydrate(NGH)reservoirs.Particle migration within the NGH reservoir dominates sand production behaviors,while their relationships were rarely reported,severely constrains quantitative evaluation of sand production risks.This paper reports the optical observations of solid particle migration and production from micrometer to mesoscopic scales conditioned to gravel packing during depressurization-induced NGH dissociation for the first time.Theoretical evolutionary modes of sand migration are established based on experimental observations,and its implications on field NGH are comprehensively discussed.Five particle migration regimes of local borehole failure,continuous collapse,wormhole expansion,extensive slow deformation,and pore-wall fluidization are proved to occur during depressurization.The types of particle migration regimes and their transmission modes during depressurization are predominantly determined by initial hydrate saturation.In contrast,the depressurization mainly dominates the transmission rate of the particle migration regimes.Furthermore,both the cumulative mass and the medium grain size of the produced sand decrease linearly with increasing initial methane hydrate(MH)saturation.Discontinuous gas bubble emission,expansion,and explosion during MH dissociation delay sand migration into the wellbore.At the same time,continuous water flow is a requirement for sand production during hydrate dissociation by depressurization.The experiments enlighten us that a constitutive model that can illustrate visible particle migration regimes and their transmission modes is urgently needed to bridge numerical simulation and field applications.Optimizing wellbore layout positions or special reservoir treatment shall be important for mitigating sand production tendency during NGH exploitation.

Application of the monitoring and early warning system for internal solitary waves:Take the second natural gas hydrates production test in the South China Sea as an example

Internal solitary waves(ISWs) contain great energy and have the characteristics of emergency and concealment. To avoid their damage to offshore engineering, a new generation of monitoring and early warning system for ISWs was developed using technologies of double buoys monitoring, intelligent realtime data transmission, and automatic software identification. The system was applied to the second natural gas hydrates(NGHs) production test in the Shenhu Area, South China Sea(SCS) and successfully provided the early warning of ISWs for 173 days(from October 2019 to April 2020). The abrupt changes in the thrust force of the drilling platform under the attack of ISWs were consistent with the early warning information, proving the reliability of this system. A total of 93 ISWs were detected around the drilling platform. Most of them occurred during the spring tides in October–December 2019 and April 2020, while few of them occurred in winter. As suggested by the theoretical model, the full-depth structure of ISWs was a typical current profile of mode-1, and the velocities of wave-induced currents can reach 80 cm/s and30 cm/s, respectively, in the upper ocean and near the seabed. The ISWs may be primarily generated from the interactions between the topography and semidiurnal tides in the Luzon Strait, and then propagate westward to the drilling platform. This study could serve as an important reference for the early warning of ISWs for offshore engineering construction in the future.

Mechanical Modeling and Analysis of Stability Deterioration of Production Well During Marine Hydrate Depressurization Production

Different from oil and gas production,hydrate reservoirs are shallow and unconsolidated,whose mechanical properties deteriorate with hydrate decomposition.Therefore,the formations will undergo significant subsidence during depressurization,which will destroy the original force state of the production well.However,existing research on the stability of oil and gas production wells assumes the formation to be stable,and lacks consideration of the force exerted on the hydrate production well by formation subsidence caused by hydrate decomposition during production.To fill this gap,this paper proposes an analytical method for the dynamic evolution of the stability of hydrate production well considering the effects of hydrate decomposition.Based on the mechanical model of the production well,the basis for stability analysis has been proposed.A multi-field coupling model of the force state of the production well considering the effect of hydrate decomposition and formation subsidence is established,and a solver is developed.The analytical approach is verified by its good agreement with the results from the numerical method.A case study found that the decomposition of hydrate will increase the pulling-down force and reduce the supporting force,which is the main reason for the stability deterioration.The higher the initial hydrate saturation,the larger the reservoir thickness,and the lower the production pressure,the worse the stability or even instability.This work can provide a theoretical reference for the stability maintaining of the production well.

Rheological study of methane gas hydrates in the presence of micron-sized sand particles

Natural gas hydrates,intricate crystalline structures formed by water molecules and small gas molecules,have emerged as a significant and globally impactful clean energy resource.However,their commercial exploitation faces challenges,particularly operational disruptions caused by sand-related blockages.Understanding the rheological properties of hydrate slurry,especially in the presence of micron-sized sand particles,is imperative for ensuring the flow assurance of subsea hydrate exploitation.This study extensively investigates the rheological properties of sand-containing hydrate slurries.The findings reveal that these slurries exhibit non-Newtonian fluid characteristics,including yield stress,thixotropy,and shear-thinning behavior.Solid-like elastic features are observed in sand-containing hydrate slurries before yielding,transitioning to viscous behavior after yielding.Even with a minimal amount of sand,both static yield stress and yield strain experience substantial changes,correlating with the increase in sand concentration.The research conclusively establishes the thixotropic nature of sand-hydrate slurries,where the viscosity decay rate is directly influenced by the shear rate.These insights aim to contribute comprehensively to the development of effective flow assurance strategies,ensuring the safe and stable operation of subsea hydrate exploitation.

Optimization of Gas Production from Hydrate-Bearing Sediments with Fluctuation Characteristics

As an important source of low-carbon,clean fossil energy,natural gas hydrate plays an important role in improving the global energy consumption structure.Developing the hydrate industry in the South China Sea is important to achieving‘carbon peak and carbon neutrality’goals as soon as possible.Deep-water areas subjected to the action of long-term stress and tectonic movement have developed complex and volatile terrains,and as such,the morphologies of hydrate-bearing sediments(HBSs)fluctuate correspondingly.The key to numerically simulating HBS morphologies is the establishment of the conceptual model,which represents the objective and real description of the actual geological body.However,current numerical simulation models have characterized HBSs into horizontal strata without considering the fluctuation characteristics.Simply representing the HBS as a horizontal element reduces simulation accuracy.Therefore,the commonly used horizontal HBS model and a model considering the HBS’s fluctuation characteristics with the data of the SH2 site in the Shenhu Sea area were first constructed in this paper.Then,their production behaviors were compared,and the huge impact of the fluctuation characteristics on HBS production was determined.On this basis,the key parameters affecting the depressurization production of the fluctuating HBSs were studied and optimized.The research results show that the fluctuation characteristics have an obvious influence on the hydrate production of HBSs by affecting their temperatures and pressure distributions,as well as the transmission of the pressure drop and methane gas discharge.Furthermore,the results show that the gas productivity of fluctuating HBSs was about 5%less than that of horizontal HBSs.By optimizing the depressurization amplitude,well length,and layout location of vertical wells,the productivity of fluctuating HBSs increased by about 56.6%.

Numerical Simulation on Production Trials by Using Depressurization for Typical Marine Hydrate Reservoirs:Well Type and Formation Dip

Natural gas hydrate has huge reserves and is widely distributed in marine environment.Its commercial development is of great significance for alleviating the contradiction between energy supply and demand.As an efficient research method,numerical simulation can provide valuable insights for the design and optimization of hydrate development.However,most of the current production models simplify the reservoir as a two-dimensional(2D)horizontal layered model,often ignoring the impact of formation dip angle.To improve the accuracy of production prediction and provide theoretical support for the optimization of production well design,two three-dimensional(3D)geological models with different dip angles based on the geological data from two typical sites are constructed.The vertical well,horizontal well and multilateral wells are deployed in these reservoirs with different permeabilities to perform production trial,and the sensitivity analysis of dip angles is also carried out.The short-term production behaviors in high and low permeability reservoirs with different dip angles are exhibited.The simulation results show that 1)the gas and water production behaviors for different well types in the two typical reservoirs show obviously different variation laws when the short-term depressurization is conducted in the inclined formation;2)the inclined formation will reduce the gas production and increase the water extraction,and the phenomena becomes pronounced as the dip angle increases,particularly in the low-permeability reservoirs;3)and the impact of formation dip on hydrate recovery does not change significantly with the variation of well type.

Numerical study on gas production via a horizontal well from hydrate reservoirs with different slope angles in the South China Sea

It is important to study the effect of hydrate production on the physical and mechanical properties of low-permeability clayey–silty reservoirs for the largescale exploitation of hydrate reservoirs in the South China Sea.In this study,a multiphysical-field coupling model,combined with actual exploration drilling data and the mechanical experimental data of hydrate cores in the laboratory,was established to investigate the physical and mechanical properties of low-permeability reservoirs with different slope angles during 5-year hydrate production by the depressurization method via a horizontal well.The result shows that the permeability of reservoirs severely affects gas production rate,and the maximum gas production amount of a 20-m-long horizontal well can reach186.8 m3/day during the 5-year hydrate production.Reservoirs with smaller slope angles show higher gas production rates.The depressurization propagation and hydrate dissociation mainly develop along the direction parallel to the slope.Besides,the mean effective stress of reservoirs is concentrated in the near-wellbore area with the on-going hydrate production,and gradually decreases with the increase of the slope angle.Different from the effective stress distribution law,the total reservoir settlement amount first decreases and then increases with the increase of the slope angle.The maximum settlement of reservoirs with a 0°slope angle is up to 3.4 m,and the displacement in the near-wellbore area is as high as2.2 m after 5 years of hydrate production.It is concluded that the pore pressure drop region of low-permeability reservoirs in the South China Sea is limited,and various slope angles further lead to differences in effective stress and strain of reservoirs during hydrate production,resulting in severe uneven settlement of reservoirs.

Progress in Global Gas Hydrate Development and Production as a New Energy Resource

Natural gas hydrates have been hailed as a new and promising unconventional alternative energy,especially as fossil fuels approach depletion,energy consumption soars,and fossil fuel prices rise,owing to their extensive distribution,abundance,and high fuel efficiency.Gas hydrate reservoirs are similar to a storage cupboard in the global carbon cycle,containing most of the world's methane and accounting for a third of Earth's mobile organic carbon.We investigated gas hydrate stability zone burial depths from the viewpoint of conditions associated with stable existence of gas hydrates,such as temperature,pressure,and heat flow,based on related data collected by the global drilling programs.Hydrate-related areas are estimated using various biological,geochemical and geophysical tools.Based on a series of previous investigations,we cover the history and status of gas hydrate exploration in the USA,Japan,South Korea,India,Germany,the polar areas,and China.Then,we review the current techniques for hydrate exploration in a global scale.Additionally,we briefly review existing techniques for recovering methane from gas hydrates,including thermal stimulation,depressurization,chemical injection,and CH4-CO2 exchange,as well as corresponding global field trials in Russia,Japan,United States,Canada and China.In particular,unlike diagenetic gas hydrates in coarse sandy sediments in Japan and gravel sediments in the United States and Canada,most gas hydrates in the northem South China Sea are non-diagenetic and exist in fine-grained sediments with a vein-like morphology.Therefore,especially in terms of the offshore production test in gas hydrate reservoirs in the Shenhu area in the north slope of the South China Sea,Chinese scientists have proposed two unprecedented techniques that have been verified during the field trials:solid fluidization and formation fluid extraction.Herein,we introduce the two production techniques,as well as the so-called"fbur-in-one"environmental monitoring system employed during the Shenhu production test.Methane is not currently commercially produced from gas hydrates anywhere in the world;therefore,the objective of field trials is to prove whether existing techniques could be applied as feasible and economic production methods for gas hydrates in deep-water sediments and permafrost zones.Before achieving commercial methane recovery from gas hydrates,it should be necessary to measure the geologic properties of gas hydrate reservoirs to optimize and improve existing production techniques.Herein,we propose horizontal wells,multilateral wells,and cluster wells improved by the vertical and in dividual wells applied during existing field trials.It is noteworthy that relatively pure gas hydrates occur in seafloor mounds,within near-surface sediments,and in gas migration conduits.Their extensive distribution,high saturation,and easy access mean that these types of gas hydrate may attract considerable attention from academia and industry in the future.Herein,we also review the occurrence and development of concentrated shallow hydrate accumulations and briefly introduce exploration and production techniques.In the closing section,we discuss future research needs,key issues,and major challenges related to gas hydrate exploration and production.We believe this review article provides insight on past,present,and future gas hydrate exploration and production to provide guidelines and stimulate new work into the field of gas hydrates.

The first offshore natural gas hydrate production test in South China Sea

Natural gas hydrates (NGH)is one of key future clean energy resources.Its industrialized development will help remit the huge demand of global natural gas,relieve the increasing pressure of the environment, and play a vital role in the green sustainable growth of human societies.Based on nearly two decades' studying on the reservoir characteristics in the South China Sea (SCS)and the knowledge of reservoir system,the China Geological Survey (CGS)conducted the first production test on an optimal target selected in Shenhu area SCS in 2017.Guided by the "three-phase control"exploitation theory which focused on formation stabilization,technologies such as formation fluid extraction,well drilling and completing, reservoir stimulating,sand controlling,environmental monitoring,monitoring and preventing of secondary formation of hydrates were applied.The test lasted for 60 days from May 10^th when starting to pump, drop pressure and ignite to well killing on July 9^th,with gas production of 3.09×10^5 m^3 in total,which is a world record with the longest continuous duration of gas production and maximal gas yield.This successful test brings a significant breakthrough on safety control of NGH production.

SCHEMES OF GAS PRODUCTION FROM NATURAL GAS HYDRATES

Natural gas hydrates are a kind of nonpolluting and high quality energy resources for future, the reserves of which are about twice of the carbon of the current fossil energy (petroleum, natural gas and coal) on the earth. And it will be the most important energy for the 21st century. The energy balance and numerical simulation are applied to study the schemes of the natural gas hydrates production in this paper,and it is considered that both depressurization and thermal stimulation are effective methods for exploiting natural gas hydrates, and that the gas production of the thermal stimulation is higher than that of the depressurization. But thermal stimulation is non-economic because it requires large amounts of energy.Therefore the combination of the two methods is a preferable method for the current development of the natural gas hydrates. The main factors which influence the production of natural gas hydrates are: the temperature of injected water, the injection rate, the initial saturation of the hydrates and the initial temperature of the reservoir which is the most important factor.

Preliminary results of environmental monitoring of the natural gas hydrate production test in the South China Sea

Natural gas hydrate (NGH)is considered as one of the new clean energy sources of the 21st century with the highest potential.The environmental issues of NGH production have attracted the close attention of scientists in various countries.From May 10 to July 9,2017,the first offshore NGH production test in the South China Sea (SCS)was conducted by the China Geological Survey.In addition,environmental security has also been effectively guaranteed via a comprehensive environmental monitoring system built during the NGH production test.The monitoring system considered sea-surface atmosphere methane and carbon dioxide concentrations,dissolved methane in the sea water column,and the seafloor physical oceanography and marine chemistry environment.The whole process was monitored via multiple means, in multiple layers,in all domains,and in real time.After the production test,an environmental investigation was promptly conducted to evaluate the environmental impact of the NGH production test. The monitoring results showed that the dissolved methane concentration in seawater and the near-seabed environment characteristics after the test were consistent with the background values,indicating that the NGH production test did not cause environmental problems such as methane leakage.

A sand-production control system for gas production from clayey silt hydrate reservoirs

Sand production is a crucial problem during the process of extracting natural gas from hydrate reservoirs. To deal with sand-production problems systematically, a sand-production control system (SCS) is first proposed in this paper, specialized for pore-distributed clayey silt hydrate reservoirs. Secondly, a nodal system analysis method (NSAM) is applied to analyze the sand migration process during hydrate exploitation. The SCS is divided into three sub-systems, according to different sand migration mechanisms, and three key scientific problems and advances in SCS research in China Geological Survey are reviewed and analyzed. The maximum formation sanding rate, proper sand-control gravel size, and borehole blockage risk position were provided for clayey hydrate exploitation wells based on the SCS analysis. The SCS sub-systems are closely connected via bilateral coupling, and coordination of the subsystems is the basis of maintaining formation stability and prolonging the gas production cycle. Therefore, contradictory mitigation measures between sand production and operational systems should be considered preferentially. Some novel and efficient hydrate exploitation methods are needed to completely solve the contradictions caused by sand production.

The second natural gas hydrate production test in the South China Sea

Clayey silt reservoirs bearing natural gas hydrates(NGH)are considered to be the hydrate-bearing reservoirs that boast the highest reserves but tend to be the most difficult to exploit.They are proved to be exploitable by the first NGH production test conducted in the South China Sea in 2017.Based on the understanding of the first production test,the China Geological Survey determined the optimal target NGH reservoirs for production test and conducted a detailed assessment,numerical and experimental simulation,and onshore testing of the reservoirs.After that,it conducted the second offshore NGH production test in 1225 m deep Shenhu Area,South China Sea(also referred to as the second production test)from October 2019 to April 2020.During the second production test,a series of technical challenges of drilling horizontal wells in shallow soft strata in deep sea were met,including wellhead stability,directional drilling of a horizontal well,reservoir stimulation and sand control,and accurate depressurization.As a result,30 days of continuous gas production was achieved,with a cumulative gas production of 86.14×104 m3.Thus,the average daily gas production is 2.87×10^4 m^3,which is 5.57 times as much as that obtained in the first production test.Therefore,both the cumulative gas production and the daily gas production were highly improved compared to the first production test.As indicated by the monitoring results of the second production test,there was no anomaly in methane content in the seafloor,seawater,and atmosphere throughout the whole production test.This successful production test further indicates that safe and effective NGH exploitation is feasible in clayey silt NGH reservoirs.The industrialization of hydrates consists of five stages in general,namely theoretical research and simulation experiments,exploratory production test,experimental production test,productive production test,and commercial production.The second production test serves as an important step from the exploratory production test to experimental production test.

China Has Successfully Conducted its First Pilot Production of Natural Gas Hydrates

Natural gas methane and hydrates are a chemical compound of water molecules formed under low temperature and high pressure. The decomposition of 1 m^3 of natural gas hydrates can release about 0.8 m^3 of water and 164 m3 of natural gas. Thus, natural gas hydrates are characterized by their high-energy density and huge resource potential. It is estimated that the world＇s total natural gas hydrates resource amount is equivalent to twice the total carbon amount of the global proven conventional fuels and can meet the human energy requirement in the future for 1000 years. They are thus the first choice to replace conventional energy of petroleum and coal.

Near-wellbore fracture initiation and propagation induced by drilling fluid invasion during solid fluidization mining of submarine nature gas hydrate sediments

Drilling in a natural gas hydrate formation is challenging due to the poor consolidation of the formation and the potential evaporation of the hydrate.The unreasonable down-hole pressure of the drilling fluid can not only lead to the wellbore instability,but also change the predrilling condition of the natural gas hydrate formation,thus leading to an instable wellbore.In this paper,the integrated discrete element method(DEM)-computational fluid dynamics(CFD)work flow is developed to study the wellbore instability due to the penetration of the drilling fluid into the hydrate formation during crack propagations.The results show that the difference between in-situ stresses and overpressure directly affect the drilling fluid invasion behavior.The lower hydrate saturation leads to an easier generation of drilling fluid flow channels and the lower formation breakdown pressure.The breakdown pressure increases with the increase of hydrate saturation,this also indicates that hydrates can enhance the mechanical properties of the formation.The induced cracks are initially accompanied with higher pressure of the drilling fluid.According to the rose diagram of the fracture orientation,a wider orientation of the fracture distribution is observed at higher pressure of the invasion fluid.

The status of exploitation techniques of natural gas hydrate

Natural gas hydrate(NGH)has been widely considered as an alternative form of energy with huge potential,due to its tremendous reserves,cleanness and high energy density.Several countries involving Japan,Canada,India and China have launched national projects on the exploration and exploitation of gas hydrate resources.At the beginning of this century,an early trial production of hydrate resources was carried out in Mallik permafrost region,Canada.Japan has conducted the first field test from marine hydrates in 2013,followed by another trial in 2017.China also made its first trial production from marine hydrate sediments in 2017.Yet the low production efficiency,ice/hydrate regeneration,and sand problems are still commonly encountered;the worldwide progress is far before commercialization.Up to now,many gas production techniques have been proposed,and a few of them have been adopted in the field production tests.Nevertheless,hardly any method appears really promising;each of them shows limitations at certain conditions.Therefore,further efforts should be made on the economic efficiency as well as sustainability and environmental impacts.In this paper,the investigations on NGH exploitation techniques are comprehensively reviewed,involving depressurization,thermal stimulation,chemical inhibitor injection,CO2–CH4 exchange,their combinations,and some novel techniques.The behavior of each method and its further potential in the field test are discussed.The advantages and limitations of laboratory studies are also analyzed.The work could give some guidance in the future formulation of exploitation scheme and evaluation of gas production behavior from hydrate reservoirs.

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.

Advances of experimental study on gas production from synthetic hydrate reservoir in China

China has entered the area of new normal economy which requires the harmonious development of energy consumption,environmental protection and economic development.Natural gas hydrate is a potential clean energy with tremendous reserve in China.The successful field test of marine hydrate exploitation in South China Sea created a new record of the longest continuous gas production from natural gas hydrate.However,the corresponding fundamental research is still urgently needed in order to narrow the gap between field test and commercial production.This paper reviewed the latest advances of experimental study on gas production from hydrate reservoir in China.The experimental apparatus for investigating the performance of hydrate dissociation in China has developed from one dimensional to two dimensional and three dimensional.In addition,well configuration developed from one tube to complicated multi-well networks to satisfy the demand of different production models.Besides,diverse testing methods have been established.The reviewed papers preliminary discussed the mechanical properties and the sediment deformation situation during the process of hydrate dissociation.However,most reported articles only consider the physical factor,the coupled mechanism of physical and chemical factor for the mechanical properties of the sediment and the sand production problem should be studied further.

Numerical Simulation Study on the Effect of Horizontal Well Reservoir Stimulation for Gas Hydrate Production

A new gas hydrate reservoir stimulation method of in-situ fracturing with transient heating is proposed, in line with analysis of the technological bottlenecks faced by marine gas hydrate production. This method injects the developed chemical reagents into a hydrate reservoir through hydraulic fracturing, releasing heat during the chemical reaction to increase the hydrate decomposition rate. The chemical reaction product furthermore has a honeycomb structure to support fractures and increase reservoir permeability. Based on the geological model of natural gas hydrate in the South China Sea, three development methods are simulated to evaluate hydrate production capacity, consisting of horizontal well, fractured horizontal well and in-situ fracturing with transient heating well. Compared with the horizontal well, the simulation results show that the cumulative gas production of the fractured horizontal well in one year is 7 times that of the horizontal well, while the cumulative gas production of in-situ fracturing with transient heating well is 12 times that of the horizontal well, which significantly improves daily efficiency and cumulative gas production. In addition, the variation patterns of hydrate saturation and temperature-pressure fields with production time for the three exploitation plans are presented, it being found that three sensitive parameters of fracture conductivity, fracture half-length and fracture number are positively correlated with hydrate production enhancement. Through the simulations, basic data and theoretical support for the optimization of gas hydrate reservoir stimulation scheme has been provided.