Tianbi Ma, Hongyang Chu, Jiawei Li, Jingxuan Zhang, Yubao Gao, Weiyao Zhu, W. John Lee
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Due to high energy density, clean combustion products and abundant resources, natural gas hydrates (NGHs) have been regarded as an important clean energy source with the potential for large-scale development and utilization. However, pilot tests in NGHs show that their production rates are far below commercial needs. Multilateral well technology may lead to a solution to this problem because it can dramatically expand the drainage area of production wells. This paper presents the practical rate transient analysis for multilateral horizontal wells in NGHs. In developing solution to the diffusivity equation of multilateral horizontal wells in NGHs, the superposition principle and reciprocity are applied. We wrote the governing equation in cylindrical coordinates to describe the NGH flow process. We used the moving boundaries and dissociation coefficients to model the solid-to-gas transition process in hydrates. To obtain solutions for flow in hydrate reservoirs, we used Laplace transforms and the Stehfest numerical inversion method. Superposition principle and Gaussian elimination are applied to obtain the desired solution for multilateral horizontal wells. We validated our proposed model with a commercial numerical simulator. By performing sensitivity analyses, effects on production behavior of the number of branches, dissociation coefficient, radius of the region with dissociated hydrate, and dispersion ratio are determined. A synthetic case study is conducted to show the typical production behaviors.
期刊介绍:
The International Journal of Coal Science & Technology is a peer-reviewed open access journal that focuses on key topics of coal scientific research and mining development. It serves as a forum for scientists to present research findings and discuss challenging issues in the field.
The journal covers a range of topics including coal geology, geochemistry, geophysics, mineralogy, and petrology. It also covers coal mining theory, technology, and engineering, as well as coal processing, utilization, and conversion. Additionally, the journal explores coal mining environment and reclamation, along with related aspects.
The International Journal of Coal Science & Technology is published with China Coal Society, who also cover the publication costs. This means that authors do not need to pay an article-processing charge.