Nanostructural control of methane release in kerogen and its implications to wellbore production decline
Abstract
In spite of the massive success of shale gas production in the US in the last few decades there are still major concerns with the steep decline in wellbore production and the large uncertainty in a long-term projection of decline curves. A reliable projection must rely on a mechanistic understanding of methane release in shale matrix–a limiting step in shale gas extraction. Here we show that methane release in nanoporous kerogen matrix is characterized by fast release of pressurized free gas (accounting for ~30–47% recovery) followed by slow release of adsorbed gas as the gas pressure decreases, and we use molecular simulations to demonstrate it. The first stage is driven by the gas pressure gradient while the second stage is controlled by gas desorption and diffusion. We further show that diffusion of all methane in nanoporous kerogen behaves differently from the bulk phase, with much smaller diffusion coefficients. The MD simulations also indicate that a significant fraction (3–35%) of methane deposited in kerogen can potentially become trapped in isolated nanopores and thus not recoverable. Finally, our results shed a new light on mechanistic understanding gas release and production decline in unconventional reservoirs. The long-term production decline appears controlled by themore »
- Authors:
-
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1257808
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1257813
- Report Number(s):
- SAND2016-1324J; SAND2016-3375J
Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322; 619327
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Scientific Reports
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 6; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322
- Publisher:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 03 NATURAL GAS; 97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING; 58 GEOSCIENCES
Citation Formats
Ho, Tuan Anh, Criscenti, Louise J., and Wang, Yifeng. Nanostructural control of methane release in kerogen and its implications to wellbore production decline. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1038/srep28053.
Ho, Tuan Anh, Criscenti, Louise J., & Wang, Yifeng. Nanostructural control of methane release in kerogen and its implications to wellbore production decline. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28053
Ho, Tuan Anh, Criscenti, Louise J., and Wang, Yifeng. Thu .
"Nanostructural control of methane release in kerogen and its implications to wellbore production decline". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28053. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1257808.
@article{osti_1257808,
title = {Nanostructural control of methane release in kerogen and its implications to wellbore production decline},
author = {Ho, Tuan Anh and Criscenti, Louise J. and Wang, Yifeng},
abstractNote = {In spite of the massive success of shale gas production in the US in the last few decades there are still major concerns with the steep decline in wellbore production and the large uncertainty in a long-term projection of decline curves. A reliable projection must rely on a mechanistic understanding of methane release in shale matrix–a limiting step in shale gas extraction. Here we show that methane release in nanoporous kerogen matrix is characterized by fast release of pressurized free gas (accounting for ~30–47% recovery) followed by slow release of adsorbed gas as the gas pressure decreases, and we use molecular simulations to demonstrate it. The first stage is driven by the gas pressure gradient while the second stage is controlled by gas desorption and diffusion. We further show that diffusion of all methane in nanoporous kerogen behaves differently from the bulk phase, with much smaller diffusion coefficients. The MD simulations also indicate that a significant fraction (3–35%) of methane deposited in kerogen can potentially become trapped in isolated nanopores and thus not recoverable. Finally, our results shed a new light on mechanistic understanding gas release and production decline in unconventional reservoirs. The long-term production decline appears controlled by the second stage of gas release.},
doi = {10.1038/srep28053},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
number = ,
volume = 6,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jun 16 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Thu Jun 16 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
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