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Gulf of Mexico Hydrate R&D Planning Workshop

Dr. William C. Maurer

Gas Hydrate Drilling Problems

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Gas Hydrates Solid Mixture of Gas and Water

(Petroleum Engineer, March 1998)

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Burning Methane Hydrate (Sloan, Jr., 1990)

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Global Gas Hydrate Locations (Collett et al., 1998)

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25

20

15

10

5

0 0 5 10 15 20 25

a

d

c

B

Solid Hydrate

Gas & Water

Pre

ssure

MPa

Temperature, C

Hydrate Dissociation Curve (Sloan Jr., 1990)

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Unstable Hydrate Decomposition (Petroleum Engineer, March 1998)

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Land Well Hydrate

Phase Diagram (Collett et al., 1998)

-10 -20 0 10 20 30

Temperature, C

1,600

1,400

1,200

1,000

800

600

400

200

0

Depth

, m

Gas & Water

Hydrate

Phase Boundary

Sediment Ice

Ice & Hydrate

Geothermal Gradient

Base of Permafrost

Base of Hydrate

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1,600

1,400

1,200

1,000

800

600

400

200

0

Depth

, m

Offshore Well Hydrate

Phase Diagram (Collett et al., 1998)

-10 -20 0 10 20 30

Temperature, C

Water Temperature

Sea Floor

Phase Boundary

Gas & Water

Water

Hydrate

Geothermal Gradient

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Producing Gas From Hydrates (Sloan Jr., 1990)

Completion Zone

Porous Zone Gas Zone

Hydrate Zone

15m

Gas Well

Impermeable Rock

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Hydrate Gas Production in Russia (Makogon, 1988)

Well No 109 Well No 121 Well No 150 Well No 142 Well No 7

850

Hydrate

750

700

Depth

, in

m

Gas

Water

800

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Depressurization Hydrate Production

(Collett et al., 1998)

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Thermal Injection-Cycle Hydrate Production

(Collett et al., 1998)

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Frozen Blow Out Preventor

Stuck Pipe

Drill Pipe

Riser

Frozen Disconnect

Hydrate Enlarged Hole

Dehydrated Mud Gas Cut Mud

Plugged Choke/Kill Lines

Hydrate Drilling Problems

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Gas Plume

Offshore Hydrate Blowout

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Gas

Hole Enlargement

Hydrate Drilled

Hydrate Drilling Mechanism

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Problems with Enlarged Holes

Hole Cleaning

Logging

Drill Pipe Buckling

Cementing

Packers

Running Wire Line Tools

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Gas Hydrate Drilling and Production Problems

(Collett, 2000)

Gas Release

Gas Hydrate

Free-Gas

Gas Leakage

Hydrate

Free-Gas

Gas Leakage

Collapsed Casing

Hydrate

Free-Gas

Production Facilities

Cased Borehole

Cased Borehole

Production Of Hot

Hydrocarbons

Open Borehole

Collapsed Casing

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“Gas hydrate is a significant hazard to drilling and production

operations”

(Collett ,2000)

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“It is difficult to ensure sealing wells and consequently ecological safety in hydrate deposits using traditional oil field technology”

(Makogon, 1997)

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Moving Hydrate Boundary During Dissociation

(Roadifer et al., 1987)

Upper Boundary

Inner Boundary

r rw

Lower Boundary

Outer Boundary

R

g

s

re

o

DS

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40

30

20

10

0

0 20 40 60 80 100

Radius (feet)

Tem

pera

ture

(degre

e F

)

Temperature Profile in Dissociation Zone (Roadifer et al., 1987)

5 hours

12 hours

24 hours

48 hours

Well Depth 3000 ft

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Factors Increasing Gas Flow Rate (Roadifer et al., 1987)

• Increased mud temperature

• Reduced mud weight

• Increased wellbore diameter

• Increased hydrate thickness

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Mud and Gas

Drillship

Drillpipe

Riser

Seafloor Wellhead

Hydrate Hole

Enlargement

Seawater

Warm mud

Riser Drilling

Pump

Cool water

Drillpipe Drilling

Offshore Hydrate Drilling Systems

Insulated pipe

Seafloor Rig

Control Boat

Power cable

Subsea CT Rig

Cold water Drillpipe

Pump

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Power Cable

Submarine

Seawater

Drilling Rig

Buoyancy chamber

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Stopping Blowout with Hydrate Plugs

(Makogon, 1997)

G Strong flow of gas

Relief well

Cold water injection

Hydrate plugs

Connection point (1000m)

Debris in crater W

G

700m

500m

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Well Log Geologic

Cross Section (Collett et al., 1998)

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Hydrate Drilling Recommendations

• Fund hydrate drilling R&D immediately

• Focus on safety and reducing costs

• Document Russian drilling technology

• Develop improved computer models

• Conduct experiments in oil and gas wells

• Develop inexpensive seafloor coring system

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Potential Market

Drilling 500 $100,000 $50 Million

Number Wells

Income Per Well

Annual Income

Open-Hole Slotting 1000 $30,000 $30 Million

Cement Cleanout 100 $50,000 $5 Million

Total Income = $85 million/year

Applications

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TT00-32 105 Large and Small Hollow Glass Spheres

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Large and Small Hollow Glass Spheres

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Hydrate Ice Worm (World Oil, March, 2001)