Evolution of Hydrate Dissociation by Warm Brine Stimulation Combined Depressurization in the South China Sea

To evaluate the gas production performance of the hydrate accumulations in the South China Sea, a numerical simulation with warm brine stimulation combined depressurization has been conducted. A dual horizontal well system is considered as the well configuration in this work. In order to reduce energy input and improve energy utilization, warm brine (<30 °C) instead of hot brine (>50 °C) is injected into the reservoir for hydrate dissociation. The effect of the intrinsic permeability of the hydrate reservoir, the salinity and the temperature of the injected brine to gas hydrate exploitation have been investigated. The numerical simulation results indicate that the average gas production rate Qavg is about 1.23 × 10 ST m/day for the entire hydrate deposit, which has the same order of magnitude compared with the commercially viable production rate. The injected brine can be pumped out from the upper production well directly after the hydrate between the two wells is dissociated completely. Thus, the effective region of heat and inhibitor stimulation is limited. The sensitivity analyses indicate that the dissociation rate of hydrate can be enhanced by increasing the temperature of the injected brine and raising the salinity of the injected brine. The parametric study of permeability shows that the hydrate of the reservoir with the larger permeability has a higher dissociation rate. OPEN ACCESS Energies 2013, 6 5403