“Measurements for Assessment of Hydrate Related Geohazards”

Natural gas hydrate deposits are found in deep offshore environments. In some cases these deposits overlay conventional oil and gas reservoirs. There are concerns that the presence of hydrates can compromise the safety of exploration and production operations [Hovland and Gudmestad, 2001]. Serious problems related to the instability of wellbores drilled through hydrate formations have been document by Collett and Dallimore, 2002]. A hydrate-related incident in the deep Gulf of Mexico could potentially damage the environment and have significant economic impacts. Borehole and seafloor stability models are needed to predict potentially hazardous conditions. The inputs to those models will be provided by measurements. The purpose of this paper is to propose measurement schemes that are likely to be relevant to the safety problem. This survey is a starting point. It is anticipated that measurement requirements will co-evolve with our knowledge of hydrate deposits and our ability to model relevant aspects of them.