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Natural gas hydrate (NGH) is a prospective clean energy. Conventional development method of the NGH reservoir by pressure drop in vertical well faces the problems of limited stimulated reservoir volume, low production efficiency, and low conductivity. At present, pressure drop production in various well types and stimulation treatments such as hydraulic fracturing in fracable NGH reservoirs have become the focus. The effects of pressure drop production in vertical well, horizontal well, radial wells, and hydraulic fracturing in vertical and horizontal wells in NGH reservoirs were simulated with HydrateResSim. We simulated the productivity of NGH reservoir for 1000 days with several types of development mode. The productivity is highest in horizontal well staged fracturing (5 stages), followed by pressure drop production in horizontal well, fractured vertical well (single fracture), and radial well (16 holes). The worst effect is obtained through production by pressure drop in single vertical well. The optimal effects were obtained with the fracture spacing of 58 m, the fracture half-length of 100 m and the conductivity of 30 μm2 cm. The horizontal well multi-cluster fracturing significantly enlarges the stimulated area and provides channels for gas migration and enhances productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydraulic fracturing, a production enhancement technique, is widely used in the development of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. The formation of a complex network of hydraulic fractures that connect with natural fractures is crucial for hydraulic fracturing in unconventional reservoirs. However, the current understanding of vertical fracture propagation behavior under the influence of variations in the mechanical properties of interbedded rock is insufficient to meet the requirements for simulations of unconventional reservoirs under complex geological conditions. In this study, a three-dimensional discrete grid method was employed to establish a model of three-dimensional fracture propagation. Numerical simulations were conducted to investigate the vertical growth of fractures while considering the influence of bedding planes. The effects of formation factors (stress, Young's modulus) and bedding planes (cohesion, density) on the height growth of hydraulic fractures were explored. The results indicated that the interbedded stress contrast, Young's modulus contrast, and bedding planes collectively controlled the height growth of hydraulic fractures. The height of hydraulic fractures decreased with increasing minimum horizontal principal stress of adjacent layers. When the minimum horizontal principal stress of adjacent layers exceeded the vertical stress, hydraulic fractures gradually deflected into the horizontal plane. Adjacent layers with large values of Young's modulus promoted the height growth of hydraulic fractures, while adjacent layers with small values of Young's modulus inhibited the height growth of hydraulic fractures. The presence of bedding planes further suppressed height growth, and the degree of suppression was related to the cohesion and density of the bedding planes. Weaker cohesion and higher density resulted in greater suppression. The results of this study provide a reference for the design and optimization of hydraulic fracturing treatments in unconventional oil and gas reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The existence of solid hydrate in porous media always greatly reduces the relative permeability, which limits the development of hydrate reservoirs. Therefore, to recover the gas, it is necessary to carry out reservoir reconstruction measures that induce fractures around the production wells to increase the gas production of hydrate reservoirs. At present, there is limited quantitative research on the promotion of gas production by induced fractures in hydrate reservoirs. In this paper, numerical models of Class Ⅲ hydrate reservoirs with induced fractures are established. By comparing the gas production with and without induced fractures, the effectiveness of induced fractures in promoting the depressurization production of natural gas hydrates is verified. An index of improved efficiency is established and calculated to measure the promotion effect of induced fractures during the fracture promotion stage. The multiple regression calculation formulas of improved efficiency with reservoir geological parameters are obtained by integrating nonlinear regression and linear regression. The calculation model is helpful to quickly and directly measure the rationality and economy of the induced fracture depressurization method to promote hydrate development. • Numerical models of Class Ⅲ hydrate reservoirs with induced fractures are established. • An index of Improved Efficiency is established to measure the promotion effect of induced fractures. • The improved efficiency of induced fractures under different geological parameters is calculated and compared. • The multiple calculation formulas of improved efficiency with geological parameters are obtained by stepwise regression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Water-gas relative permeability in hydrate-bearing porous media is studied by LBM. • Relationship between relative permeability and fluid distribution is characterized. • Effect of hydrate on water-gas relative permeability is revealed at a pore scale. The water-gas relative permeability is an important parameter to characterize multiphase flow in sediments. To study the water-gas relative permeability of hydrate-bearing porous media, multiphase flow simulations were carried out at the pore scale using the lattice Boltzmann method. The effects of hydrate saturation and hydrate-growth habits on the water-gas relative permeability, which is scaled by the relative permeability considering the hydrate only, were evaluated in a two-dimensional porous medium. Results show that the increase of hydrate saturation causes the decrease of water-gas effective permeability as expected. However, the effect of hydrate saturation on the water-gas relative permeability is different from that of hydrate saturation on the water-gas effective permeability. The water-gas relative permeability increases with the increase of hydrate saturation in the pore-filling case. The water-gas relative permeability decreases with the increase of hydrate saturation in the grain-coating case. The wettability of solid phase has a different effect on the relative permeability of wetting phase and nonwetting phase. The Jamin effect (phase blocking) was observed and may exist in the production of gas from natural gas hydrate reservoirs. This seriously affects the multiphase flow characteristics. The changes of microscale fluid distribution effect the changes of water-gas relative permeability. The relationship between the water-gas relative permeability and the characterization parameters of microscale fluid distribution was analyzed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]