Journal of Southwest Petroleum University(Science & Technology Edition) ›› 2026, Vol. 48 ›› Issue (2): 75-89.DOI: 10.11885/j.issn.1674-5086.2024.04.06.31

• OIL AND GAS ENGINEERING • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Investigation of NGH Secondary Formation in Wellbore During Deep Sea Hydrate Production

JIANG Shuxian1, SONG Xuanqi1, HE Yufa2, LIU Chang3, SONG Jinze1   

  1. 1. Petroleum Engineering School, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, China;
    2. CNOOC Research Institute Co. Ltd., Chaoyang, Beijing 100028, China;
    3. Daqing Oilfield Exploration and Development Research Institute, CNPC, Daqing, Heilongjiang 163712, China
  • Received:2024-04-06 Published:2026-04-30

Abstract: To prevent secondary hydrate formation and enhance wellbore flow, the mathematical model to investigate the temperature and pressure in the development of the argillaceous natural gas hydrate. With the moderate sand control technique, this model predicted the temperature and pressure profiles along the well considering the sand particle size effect and the JouleThompson effect on heat transfer within the hydrate production wellbore. According to the moderate sand control principle, the paper also analyzed how the size of produced formation sand and the wellbore size could affect the secondary formation of natural gas hydrates in the wellbore. The effect is quantitatively described in the sensitivity analysis. Considering the development environment of NGH, several key factors were selected in the sensitivity analysis including produced formation sand size, wellbore diameter and thickness, production rate, thermal conductivity, and NGH formation depth. The analysis recommended the produced formation sand as less than 30 μm and the wellbore thickness as 0.389 m to reduce the risk of NGH secondary formation. The risk secondary NGH formation for shallow reservoir depth was higher than that for deep reservoir. The calculation verified that the installation of local heating electrode could effectively reduce the secondary formation risk of hydrate near the mud line. The research results of this paper provide theoretical support for fine sand control and well structure design of deep sea hydrate reservoir production.

Key words: natural gas hydrate in deep water, moderate sand control, Joule-Thompson effect, temperature profile, pressure profile, secondary formation of natural gas hydrate

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