Realizing the Energy Potential of Methane Hydrate for the United States (2010) / Chapter Skim
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3 Review of Central Research Efforts Within the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Program
3 Review of Central Research Efforts Within the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Program
Pages 83-108
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From page 83... ...
. The projects supported by the Program cover several focus areas and have included discipline-specific research activities proposed by investigators at academic institutions and national laboratories as well as large, multidisciplinary projects conducted jointly with industry and/or other federal agencies, national laboratories, and academic institutions.
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From page 84... ...
, background information prior to 2004 is provided where appropriate (Appendix F contains a complete inventory of ongoing and completed projects supported by the Program) .1 FIELD STUDIES WITH AIMS ToWARD DRILLING AND PRoDUCTIoN TESTS The Program's field studies2 have focused in the Gulf of Mexico and on the Alaska North Slope.
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From page 85... ...
characterize the in-place methane hydrate resource on the Alaska North Slope and (2) conduct field and laboratory studies to evaluate the commercial potential for its production.
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From page 86... ...
Methane hydrate 0 30000 ft 0 9000 m 70 o 00' EXPLANATION Zone of free gas (not in methane hydrate) Producing oil fields Conventional oil and gas wells Eileen methane hydrate accumulation Tarn methane hydrate accumulation FIGURE 3.1 Map of northern Alaska near the Kuparuk, Milne Point, and Prudhoe Bay oil fields.
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From page 87... ...
seismic interpretations, the project successfully developed a petroleum system model for the methane hydrate occurrences which established the geothermal setting, gas source, migration and trapping mechanisms, and the in situ properties of reservoir sands and enclosing sediments above and below them. These concepts were subsequently extended by the USGS in their assessment of the resource potential of the entire Alaska North Slope (Collett et al., 2008; Lee et al., 2008; USGS, 2008; see also Chapter 2)
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From page 88... ...
2400 Top Unit B 2600 Top Unit A 2800 ~ Base Hydrate Stability Zone 3000 FIGURE 3.2 Geophysical wireline log data with gamma-ray, density, resistivity, compressional, and shear velocity values from the Mount Elbert-01 stratigraphic test well. The well was drilled to 1,987 feet and cored to 2,492 feet below kelly bushing (BKB)
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From page 89... ...
Within the context of these substantial gains in knowledge, three main challenges and needs remain with regard to understanding the potential to produce methane from methane hydrate reservoirs on the Alaska North Slope. These include 1.
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From page 90... ...
A decision by BPXA to move to Phase 3B -- production testing -- is anticipated by the end of March 2010. North Slope Borough Project The DoE reached agreement in December 2008 with the North Slope Borough to assess drilling and long-term production testing opportunities to evaluate the methane hydrate resource potential associated with the Barrow Gas Fields (see location in Figure 2.3)
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From page 91... ...
Methane Hydrate Production Trial Using Carbon Dioxide–Methane Exchange In fall 2008, ConocoPhillips and DoE agreed to pursue a field research project on the Alaska North Slope with a stated goal to define, plan, and conduct a field trial of a methane hydrate production methodology whereby carbon dioxide molecules can be exchanged in situ for the methane molecules within a hydrate structure, thus releasing the methane for production. The purpose of the project is to evaluate the viability of this hydrate production technique and to understand the implications of the process at a field scale (Farrell and Howard, 2009)
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From page 92... ...
the JIP made several contributions to the overall understanding of marine methane hydrate, as well as of detailed aspects of local methane hydrate occurrences in the Gulf of Mexico. Phases 1 and 2 culminated in the first successful Gulf of Mexico drilling and coring expedition for methane hydrate in May 2005 at two sites (Atwater Valley and Keathley Canyon; Figure 3.3)
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From page 93... ...
, a semi-submersible rig was used to drill seven wells at these three sites. AC = Alaminos Canyon, KC = Keathley Canyon, WR = Walker Ridge, GC = Green Canyon, AT = Atwater Valley.
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From page 94... ...
Success with these studies will advance the capability to assess marine hydrate reservoirs and technical recovery of gas from marine hydrate. Assessing and understanding potential safety hazards associated with drilling wells through and running pipelines over sediments containing methane hydrate, and developing wellbore and seafloor stability models pertinent to hydrate-containing sediments remain stated components of the research program.
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From page 95... ...
scenario for marine deposits is developed. With these substantial gains in knowledge of marine hydrate in the Gulf of Mexico taken into consideration, three main challenges still remain with regard to understanding the potential to produce gas from these marine hydrate resources: 1.
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From page 96... ...
.8 The common goal of these projects has been to provide data on physical properties, formation/dissociation behavior, and kinetics of hydrate-bearing sediments to assess the feasibility of methane hydrate production and geomechanical issues associated with the production of gas from methane hydrate deposits. In the active project portfolio, the Program includes eight experimental projects focused on physical property measurements and five computer modeling projects, which range from reservoir modeling of the geomechanical behavior of methane hydrate–bearing sediments, to molecular-scale simulations of the growth and dissociation of methane hydrate, to methane hydrate growth at the grain/bed scale.
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From page 97... ...
As indicated in Box 2.4, the synthesis method (i.e., using dissolved gas in liquid water, free gas and liquid water, or ice) strongly influences the pore-scale distribution of the methane hydrate, and hence the structural and physical properties of the synthetic core, including stiffness and strength of sediments and bulk conduction properties, which will subsequently determine the level to which these synthetic samples will represent natural formations (Lee et al., 2008; Waite et al., 2009)
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From page 98... ...
The DoE-supported reservoir modeling results have produced a number of experience-based techniques, or heuristics, which may be valuable during the field tests/production assessments. Despite the progress made by the modeling projects to assess the production potential of methane hydrate reservoirs, the accuracy of the results is still uncertain because the models have not been validated against ground-truthing field data because of the lack of data from long-term production field tests.
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From page 99... ...
The result, with the exception of the USGS-related interagency collaboration activities, which include the Alaska North Slope and offshore India, is that remote-sensing–related projects are marine oriented. The research is conducted by various university groups, federal agencies, national laboratories, and industry partners and concentrates on two main types of remote-sensing techniques: (1)
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From page 100... ...
Among the seismic-related projects supported by the Program, one in particular has achieved notable success in combining multicomponent seismic attributes, new rock physics models, and in situ data to estimate methane hydrate concentrations in deepwater, near-seafloor strata of the Gulf of Mexico. This project has also advanced the use of other, or nonstandard, seismic techniques such as ocean-bottom cables or ocean-bottom seismometers in understanding methane hydrate in marine sediments10 (see Chapter 2)
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From page 101... ...
The calculated hydrate concentrations exhibit considerable lateral variation within each velocity layer and considerable vertical variability from layer to layer. The maximum methane hydrate concentration found along this OBC profile was in the left-hand side of the line where methane hydrate occupied a little more than 30 percent of the pore space of the host sediment (red colors)
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From page 102... ...
The combined use of seismic and CSEM in remote sensing for methane hydrate has the potential to minimize ambiguity and resolution limits compared to the use of either technique alone. As outlined in Chapter 2, exploration for methane hydrate occurrences requires detailed assessment of the temperature and pressure regime within the potential methane hydrate–bearing sediment section to make better predictions of the depth to the base of methane hydrate stability.
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From page 103... ...
The Program has thus provided an opportunity for investigators to obtain fundamental information concerning the environmental impacts of methane hydrate degassing through geologic time, including impacts caused by current human activities and those predicted for the future. of 14 environmental impact projects supported by the Program since 2005, 10 have focused on some aspect of environmental impacts resulting from the natural degassing of methane hydrate (Appendix F)
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From page 104... ...
SOURCE: Most projects specifically proposed to generate new information regarding the role of methane hydrate in the global carbon cycle and/or in global climate change. Research aimed toward placing methane hydrate degassing into a global context relative to the carbon cycle and climate change is ambitious.
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From page 105... ...
2008. Analysis of modular dynamic formation test results from the Mount Elbert-01 stratigraphic test well, Milne Point Unit, North Slope Alaska.
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From page 106... ...
2008. Assessment of Gas Hydrate Resources on the North Slope, Alaska, 2008.
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From page 107... ...
2008. Assessment of Gas Hydrate Resources on the North Slope, Alaska Fact Sheet 2008-3073.
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