Experimental Research on Multi-lateral Wells by the Electric Field Analogue Model

There is a close theoretical similarity between water pressure gradients in aquifers and applied voltage gradients in aqueous solutions. A series of electric field analogue experiments has been conducted by focusing on symmetrical multi-lateral wells and dual-lateral wells of arbitrary angles between laterals. This research not only evaluates the productivity equations of a symmetrical multi-lateral well showing the effect of angles on productivity, but also proposes the concept of the multi-lateral productivity coefficient. Moreover, the multi-lateral productivity coefficient equation is designed to calculate the productivity of dual-lateral wells of variable angles, which is in turn supported by experiment. It also helps provide the experimental basis for optimizing the configuration, and building the semi-analytic productivity model, of multi-lateral wells.

Large borehole with multi-lateral branches: A novel solution for exploitation of clayey silt hydrate

Raising the in situ decomposition rate of natural gas hydrate and increasing the decomposition contact area are two main ways to raise the productivity of hydrate. An exploitation technique based on large borehole with multi-lateral branches (LB & MB) was proposed in this paper. This technique is mainly intended for the clayey silt hydrate reservoir in the South China Sea, and its main purpose is to alleviate the sand output from formation for maintaining the stability of the reservoir and to greatly increase the gas productivity of the reservoir. In this paper, the following aspects were mainly expounded: definition of the basic geometric parameters for layout of multi-lateral branches in clayey silt hydrate reservoir, simulation of the stimulation effect of a typical well profile with two branches, and prediction and simulation of the reservoir failure risk in a well profile with eight branches. The results show that the LB & MB effectively improves the flow field in the formation, raises the productivity of the reservoir and may also help to decrease the produced water-gas ratio (WGR). When the lateral branches spacing is too small, the failure zones around adjacent lateral branches overlap each other, possibly causing reservoir failure in a larger range. Therefore, the geometric parameters of multi-lateral branches depend on the dual control of the productivity and geotechnical risk factor of reservoir. Further study is being carried out, so as to obtain the optimal combination of parameters of multi-lateral branches.

Importance of Well Spacing and Orientation for Multi-Lateral Pads on Production: Learnings from Production Analysis and Numerical Modelling of the Mannville Coal Measures, South Central Alberta

The modelling results from numerical simulations of the Early Cretaceous, Mannville coal measures with anisotropic permeability provide insights into development strategies not readily visualized or otherwise intuitive. The complex relationships between water and gas production, the contribution from multiple coal seams as well as from organic rich shales, and the impact of well interference combined with anisotropic fracture permeability are investigated through a series of numerical simulations of four well-pads (on the corners of a square mile of land with decreasing well spacing from 1, 3, to 4 laterals per pad). After 25 years of production, the two pads with optimally-oriented laterals with respect to the fracture permeability anisotropy produce 61% of the recovered gas for the 1 lateral/pad model, 52% for the 3 laterals/pad model, and 50% for the 4 laterals/pad model. Downspacing has a greater impact on increasing the gas production from pads with the poorly-oriented main laterals than from the pads with the optimally-oriented main laterals. The cumulative gas production at the end of the 25 year history is 4.2% higher for an optimally-oriented pad (pad1) and 1.1× higher for a poorly-oriented pad (pad3) for a model with 4 laterals/pad than 3 laterals/pad and an optimally-oriented pad is 1.1% higher for an optimally-oriented pad and 1.5× higher for a poorly-oriented pad for a model with 3 laterals/pad than 1 lateral/pad. Although downspacing from 3 to 4 laterals/pad has a greater impact on increasing the cumulative gas production from optimally-oriented pads than downspacing from 1 to 3 laterals/pad, the lower impact on poorly-oriented pads results in a lower total increase the cumulative gas production from the four pads. At the end of the 25-year production history, 9.0% more gas is recovered for the 4 lateral/pad model than the 3 lateral/pad model, which predicts 1.2× more gas than the 1 lateral/pad model. The recovered shale gas exceeds the recovered coal gas after ~7 years of production. The higher contribution of produced coal gas predicted due to downspacing results from a higher contribution of recovered gas from the main coal seam, while the contribution from the minor coal seams is lower. Downspacing has a minimal impact on the cumulative water production;after 25 years of production a difference of 1.0% is predicted between models with 4 and 3 laterals/pad and 1.7% between models with 1 and 3 laterals/pad. While downspacing increases the cumulative water production for the poorly-oriented pads (1.1× for 3 to 4 laterals/pad and 1.3× for 3 to 1 lateral/pad after 25 years), the cumulative water production for the optimally-oriented pads is lower over the majority of the production history (after ~4 years and 3.2% lower after 25 years for 3 to 4 laterals/pad and after ~6 months and 1.1× lower after 25 years for 1 to 3 laterals/pad).

Classification-based self-adaptive differential evolution and its application in multi-lateral multi-issue negotiation

Multi-lateral multi-issue negotiations are the most complex realistic negotiation problems. Automated ap- proaches have proven particularly promising for complex ne- gotiations and previous research indicates evolutionary com- putation could be useful for such complex systems. To im- prove the efficiency of realistic multi-lateral multi-issue ne- gotiations and avoid the requirement of complete informa- tion about negotiators, a novel negotiation model based on art improved evolutionary algorithm p-ADE is proposed. The new model includes a new multi-agent negotiation protocol and strategy which utilize p-ADE to improve the negotia- tion efficiency by generating more acceptable solutions with stronger suitability for all the participants. Where p-ADE is improved based on the well-known differential evolution （DE）, in which a new classification-based mutation strategy DE/rand-to-best/pbest as well as a dynamic self-adaptive pa- rameter setting strategy are proposed. Experimental results confirm the superiority of p-ADE over several state-of-the-art evolutionary optimizers. In addition, the p-ADE based multi- agent negotiation model shows good performance in solving realistic multi-lateral multi-issue negotiations.

China’s Major Approaches to Solving the Darfur Issue

China has been involving itself in the international efforts to solve the Sudanese Darfur problem since 2004.In this process,China has adopted three approaches to finding ways out of the crisis:multilateral cooperation,bilateral coordination,and the involvement of Chinese enterprises in Sudan.These approaches are interactive and mutually promoted in a consistent and effective frame.Multilateral activities in the UN provide more opportunities for China to assist in shaping the contents of the resolutions related to Darfur.China also pays attention to conducting cooperation with relevant regional organizations in this process.On the basis of its multilateral approach,the bilateral coordination on key issues between China and the US and,China and Sudan exert a significant impact on solving the problem.Chinese enterprises in Sudan also play a mixed role in the whole process through their economic influences there.