Accumulation and exploration enlightenment of shallow normal-pressure shale gas in southeastern Sichuan Basin, SW China

Based on the drilling, logging, experimental and testing data of Well PD1, a shallow normal-pressure shale gas well in the Laochangping anticline in southeastern Sichuan Basin, the shallow shale gas reservoirs of the Ordovician Wufeng Formation to Silurian Longmaxi Formation (Wufeng-Longmaxi) were investigated in terms of geological characteristics, occurrence mechanism, and adsorption-desorption characteristics, to reveal the enrichment laws and high-yield mechanism of shallow normal-pressure shale gas in complex structure areas. First, the shallow shale gas reservoirs are similar to the medium-deep shale gas reservoirs in static indicators such as high-quality shale thickness, geochemistry, physical properties and mineral composition, but the former is geologically characterized by low formation pressure coefficient, low gas content, high proportion of adsorbed gas, low in-situ stress, and big difference between principal stresses. Second, shallow shales in the complex structure areas have the gas occurrence characteristics including low total gas content (1.1-4.8 m3/t), high adsorbed gas content (2.5-2.8 m3/t), low sensitive desorption pressure (1.7-2.5 MPa), and good self-sealing. Third, the adsorbed gas enrichment of shales is mainly controlled by organic matter abundance, formation temperature and formation pressure: the higher the organic matter abundance and formation pressure, the lower the formation temperature and the higher the adsorption capacity, which is more beneficial for the adsorbed gas occurrence. Fourth, the shallow normal-pressure shale gas corresponds to low sensitive desorption pressure. The adsorbed gas can be rapidly desorbed and recovered when the flowing pressure is reduced below the sensitive desorption pressure. Fifth, the exploration breakthrough of Well PD1 demonstrates that the shallow complex structure areas with adsorbed gas in dominance can form large-scale shale reservoirs, and confirms the good exploration potential of shallow normal-pressure shale gas in the margin of the Sichuan Basin.

Geologically controlling factors on coal bed methane （CBM） productivity in Liulin

It is of great significance to forecast high yield of CBM wells and analyze dynamic production by having an overall study on the characteristics of the produced CBM and determining the main factors influencing the productivity of CBM. With the test report and the related geological parameters of a single well, methods of combining the productivity data and typical production curves were used to analyze different geological factors and how to influence the capacity of a single layer. Then, the paper proposed a new understanding about capacity characteristics of the study area and geological control factors： First, the Shanxi formation production capacity characteristics was divided into two-stages, showing signs of gas and gas break- through for 100 days. Second, two parameters, which include potential of gas production and gas production capacity, were bet- ter than the single parameter, such as gas content, coal thickness, and penetration to analyze affecting factors of single well pro- duction. Finally, comprehensive analysis concluded that the ratio of critical desorption pressure to reservoir pressure has greater influence on the production of vertical CBM wells. Besides, the potential of gas production capacity has greater impact at stage of showing gas signs; the coal reservoir pressure and gas production capacity have greater impact at stage of gas breakthrough for 100 days. Thus, to seek the coal bed methane with high ratio of critical desorption pressure to reservoir pressure and high yield of gas will be important guarantee to the success of the coal bed methane exploration and development.

Temperature influence on macro-mechanics parameter of intact coal sample containing original gas from Baijiao Coal Mine in China

Investigation of temperature effect on mechanical parameters of coal is very important for understanding the mechanical response of coal bed at high temperature.It is especially benefcial for mitigating the thermal-induced disasters occurred in those coal mines suffering from heat hazard.In this work,coal samples,obtained from the No.2442 working face of Baijiao Coal Mine,were subjected to uniaxial compression ranging from 20 to 40℃ with an interval of 5℃.The apparatus used was designed to obtain deformation of a stressed sample,as well as the emission of gases desorbing from coal matrix.The adsorbed gas desorption caused by heating is measured during the entire testing.It is evident that the concentrations of releasing gas(containing methane,carbon dioxide and ethane)slightly rise with increasing temperature.Gas movement observed is closely related to the deformation of coal sample.Both uniaxial compressive strength and elastic modulus of coal samples tend to reduce with temperature.It reveals that increasing temperature can not only result in thermal expansion of coal,but also lead to desorption of preexisting gas in coal which can in turns harden coal due to shrinks of the coal matrix.Even though desorption of adsorbed gas can contribute to the hardening effect for the heated coal,by comparison to the results,it could be inferred that the softening of coal resulted from thermal expansion still predominates changes in mechanical characters of coal sample with temperature at the range from20 to 40℃.

Rate decline analysis of multiple fractured horizontal well in shale reservoir with triple continuum

Multiple fractured horizontal well(MFHW) is widely applied in the development of shale gas. To investigate the gas flow characteristics in shale, based on a new dual mechanism triple continuum model, an analytical solution for MFHW surrounded by stimulated reservoir volume(SRV) was presented. Pressure and pressure derivative curves were used to identify the characteristics of flow regimes in shale. Blasingame type curves were established to evaluate the effects of sensitive parameters on rate decline curves, which indicates that the whole flow regimes could be divided into transient flow, feeding flow, and pseudo steady state flow. In feeding flow regime, the production of gas well is gradually fed by adsorbed gases in sub matrix, and free gases in matrix. The proportion of different gas sources to well production is determined by such parameters as storability ratios of triple continuum, transmissibility coefficients controlled by dual flow mechanism and fracture conductivity.

Compositional tuning of A_(2)B_(7)-type La_(0.7-x)Y_(x)Mg_(0.3)Ni_(3.5)alloys for gaseous hydrogen storage

Rare earth-based superlattice alloys have great potential for gaseous hydrogen storage,as well as successful application as nickel-metal hydride batteries anodes.In this work,Y substitution was carried out to adjust the gaseous hydrogen storage properties of A_(2)B_(7)-type La_(0.7)Mg_(0.3)Ni_(3.5)alloys.The results indicate a multiphase structure in the alloys comprised of the main rhombohedral Gd_(2)Co_(7)and PuNi_(3)phases,with a small amount of CaCu_(5)phase.Moreover,the Y substitution results in higher abundance of the Gd_(2)Co_(7)phase.The alloy La_(0.42)Y_(0.28)Mg_(0.3)Ni_(3.5)exhibits a hydrogen storage cap acity of 1.55 wt%at 298 K and a desorption plateau pressure of 0.244 MPa.In addition,this alloy demonstrates a stable cycle life by a capacity retention of 94.2%after 50 cycles,with the main capacity degradation occurring during the initial 20 cycles.This work accentuates the potential of the La-Y-Mg-Ni-based superlattice alloys for applications in solid-state hydrogen storage.