Description: Results from two recent field trials, onshore in the Alaska permafrost and in the Nankai Trough offshore Japan, suggest that natural gas could be produced from marine gas hydrate reservoirs at compatible yields and rates. However, both field trials were accompanied by different technical issues, the most striking problems resulting from un-predicted geomechanical behaviour, sediment destabilization and catastrophic sand production. So far, there is a lack of experimental data which could help to understand relevant mechanisms and triggers for potential soil failure in gas hydrate production, to guide model development for simulation of soil behaviour in large-scale production, and to identify processes which drive or, further, mitigate sand production. We use high-pressure flow-through systems in combination with different online and in situ monitoring tools (e.g. Raman microscopy, MRI) to simulate relevant gas hydrate production scenarios. Key components for soil mechanical studies are triaxial systems with ERT (Electric resistivity tomography) and high-resolution localstrain analysis. Sand production control and management is studied in a novel hollow-cylinder-type triaxial setup with a miniaturized borehole which allows fluid and particle transport at different fluid injection and flow conditions. We further apply a novel large-scale high-pressure flow-through triaxial test system equipped with μ-CT to evaluate soil failure modes and triggers relevant to gas hydrate production and slope stability. The presentation will emphasize an in-depth evaluation of our experimental approach, and it is our concern to discuss important issues of translating laboratory results to gas hydrate reservoirs in nature. We will present results from high-pressure flow-through experiments which are designed to systematically compare soil mechanical behaviour of gas hydrate-bearing sediments in relevant production scenarios focusing on depressurization and CO2 injection. Experimental datasets are analyzed based on numerical models which are able to simulate coupled process dynamics during gas hydrate formation and gas production.

Description: Gas production from gas hydrate-bearing sediments has been attracting global interests because of its potential to meet growing energy demand. Methane (CH4) gas can be extracted from CH4 hydrates by depressurization, thermal stimulation or chemical activation. However, it has never been produced on a commercial scale and the past field trials faced premature termination due to the technical difficulties such as excessive sand flow into the well, a phenomenon known as sand production. One exception is the trial at the Ignik Sikumi, Alaska in 2012, which was conducted by chemical activation followed by depressurization. During the trial, initial sand production ceased after two weeks while CH4 gas production continued for five weeks. The mitigation of sand production is deemed attributed to mechanical or hydraulic effects through formation of CO2-rich gas hydrates. This incident has highlighted the favorable effect of CO2 hydrate formation and needs to incorporate the chemo-processes into existing thermo-hydro-mechanical formulations. This paper presents an analytical formulation to capture the coupled thermo-hydro-chemo-mechanical behavior of gas hydrate-bearing sediments during gas production via CO2 injection. The key features of the formulation include hydrate formation and dissociation, gas dissolution and multiphase flow for both CH4 and CO2, facilitating CH4-CO2 hydrate conversion.

Description: This chapter talks about physicochemical properties of gas hydrate‐bearing sediments. Lab‐based experiments are the most cost‐effective and systematic approach to evaluate physicochemical properties and behavior of gas hydrate‐bearing sediments in a systematic way. Physicochemical property studies were largely focused on measurements with respect to homogeneous and reproducible gas hydrate distributions. The chapter includes overviews of thermodynamic and kinetic constraints of relevant processes of gas hydrate formation, dissociation and conversion, fluid transport in gas hydrate‐bearing sediments, thermal and electrical properties and distribution of gas hydrates. It reviews some flow‐through experimental systems and procedures for studying the behavior of gas hydrate‐bearing sediments with different research objectives. The chapter provides a brief overview on available systems for high‐resolution online fluid monitoring, as well as tools for a destruction‐free analysis of the multiphase sample with emphasis on tomographic techniques.

Description: The Black Sea has undergone several limnic and marine stages due to fluctuations in the global sea level. The exchange of saline water from the Mediterranean Sea to the Black Sea through the Bosporus Strait was interrupted when the sea level dropped below the Bosporus sill. This induced limnic conditions, while marine conditions were established after the reconnection to saline Mediterranean seawater. Extended river fan systems developed during sea level low-stands, providing large amounts of organic material being buried by rapid sedimentation on the slopes of the Black Sea margins. The biogenic degradation of this material produces most of the methane gas expelled into the anoxic water column today. This largely happens by ubiquitous cold vents at ~700 m water depth (i.e. at the stability boundary of methane hydrates) and by mud volcanoes in ~2000 m water depth. A significant amount of gas is expected to accumulate in the sediment within the methane hydrate stability zone. However, bottom-simulating reflectors, the seismic indicator for gas hydrates, are not found everywhere along the margin. Recent analyses of the Danube and Dniepr fans have revealed a discontinuous gas hydrate formation in an area with no active seeps, while areas of active seepage located in the vicinity of BSR reflections held no gas hydrates. In addition, the ongoing diffusion of salt into the uppermost Black Sea sediment pore space since the last glacial maximum further reduces the volume of the gas hydrate stability zone. Estimates of the total amount of gas stored in gas hydrates therefore require a detailed structural analysis prior to regional- or basin-scale modelling attempts.