METHANE HYDRATE PRODUCTION FROM ALASKAN PERMAFROST

• Main Authors: Richard Sigal, Kent Newsham, Thomas Williams, Barry Freifeld, Timothy Kneafsey, Carl Sondergeld, Shandra Rai, Jonathan Kwan, Stephen Kirby, Robert Kleinberg, Doug Griffin
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2014
• Subjects: 03 NATURAL GAS; ARCTIC REGIONS; CHEMISTRY; DRILLING; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS; GAS HYDRATES; GEOLOGY; GEOPHYSICS; GRAIN DENSITY; HYDRATES; NATURAL GAS; PERMAFROST; PERMEABILITY; POROSITY; RESERVOIR ROCK; SANDSTONES; STABILITY; THAWING; Arctic; Canada; Ice; Methane hydrate; north slope; permafrost; Alaska
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/839329; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/839329; https://doi.org/10.2172/839329

Natural-gas hydrates have been encountered beneath the permafrost and considered a nuisance by the oil and gas industry for years. Engineers working in Russia, Canada and the USA have documented numerous drilling problems, including kicks and uncontrolled gas releases, in arctic regions. Information has been generated in laboratory studies pertaining to the extent, volume, chemistry and phase behavior of gas hydrates. Scientists studying hydrate potential agree that the potential is great--on the North Slope of Alaska alone, it has been estimated at 590 TCF. However, little information has been obtained on physical samples taken from actual rock containing hydrates. The work scope drilled and cored a well The Hot Ice No. 1 on Anadarko leases beginning in FY 2003 and completed in 2004. An on-site core analysis laboratory was built and utilized for determining the physical characteristics of the hydrates and surrounding rock. The well was drilled from a new Anadarko Arctic Platform that has a minimal footprint and environmental impact. The final efforts of the project are to correlate geology, geophysics, logs, and drilling and production data and provide this information to scientists developing reservoir models. No gas hydrates were encountered in this well; however, a wealth of information was generated and is contained in this report. The Hot Ice No. 1 well was drilled from the surface to a measured depth of 2300 ft. There was almost 100% core recovery from the bottom of surface casing at 107 ft to total depth. Based on the best estimate of the bottom of the methane hydrate stability zone (which used new data obtained from Hot Ice No. 1 and new analysis of data from adjacent wells), core was recovered over its complete range. Approximately 580 ft of porous, mostly frozen, sandstone and 155 of conglomerate were recovered in the Ugnu Formation and approximately 215 ft of porous sandstone were recovered in the West Sak Formation. There were gas shows in the bottom part of the Ugnu and throughout the West Sak. No ...