Phase Behavior and Relative Permeability of Gas-Water-Hydrate System

• Main Author: R. B. Hunter
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Milne Point; Alaska North Slope; north slope; Prudhoe Bay; Alaska
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.634.4125; http://www.searchanddiscovery.com/documents/abstracts/2004hedberg_vancouver/extended/jaiswal/images/jaiswal.pdf

Potentially large natural gas hydrate accumulations with some associated free gas exist in the Eileen trend of the Prudhoe Bay Unit (PBU), the Kuparuk River Unit (KRU) and the Milne Point Unit (MPU) areas on the Alaska North Slope (ANS). The evaluation of this potential unconventional gas resource is aligned with increasing industry interest in ANS conventional gas resources. The Eileen trend may contain as much as 37 to 44 trillion cubic feet of in-place gas hydrate (Collett, 1993). Although the formation of natural gas-hydrate is imprecisely known, permeability measurements of laboratory sediment samples containing gas hydrate may help clarify the natural processes. To help bring this potential resource to production requires study of the ANS gas hydrate stability and reliable measurement of relative permeability functions for gas hydrate systems. The study of these gas hydrates is part of an ongoing effort to solve technical issues and to help determine if gas hydrates may become a viable energy alternative. While there is not a lack of data available on the phase behavior of gas hydrates, there is relatively little information on gas hydrate formation and dissociation within porous media. In this study, formation and dissociation of gas hydrates with and without the presence of porous media is characterized at or near reservoir conditions. The measurements were carried out in