Submarine Gas Hydrate Reservoir Simulations -A Gas/Liquid Fluid Flow Model for Gas Hydrate Containing Sediments

• Main Authors: S Schlüter, T Hennig, G Janicki, G Deerberg
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Methane hydrate
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.1061.487

Abstract: In the medium term, gas hydrate reservoirs in the subsea sediment are intended as deposits for CO 2 from fossil fuel consumption. This idea is supported by the thermodynamics of CO 2 and methane hydrates and the fact, that CO 2 hydrates are more stable than methane hydrates in a certain P-T range. The potential of producing methane by depressurization and/or by injecting CO 2 is numerically studied in the frame of the research project SUGAR. Here, a numerical model for the production of natural gas from submarine gas hydrate reservoirs based on a 2-phase Darcy flow in a sediment/hydrate matrix is described. The model was implemented in COMSOL with BDF time stepping and a fully coupled solution approach. Simulation cases presented and discussed here are the depressurization of a methane hydrate bearing reservoir at varied layer disposals and a depressurization with simultaneous injection of CO 2 by a second injection well.