A Novel Relative Permeability Model for Gas and Water Flow in Hydrate-Bearing Sediments With Laboratory and Field-Scale Application

Singh, Harpreet; Myshakin, Evgeniy M.; Seol, Yongkoo

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-62284-5

Title: A Novel Relative Permeability Model for Gas and Water Flow in Hydrate-Bearing Sediments With Laboratory and Field-Scale Application

Journal Article · Mon Mar 30 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62284-5· OSTI ID:1629975

^[1]; Myshakin, Evgeniy M. ^[2]; Seol, Yongkoo ^[1]

National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Morgantown, WV (United States)
National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Morgantown, WV (United States); LRST, Pittsburgh, PA (United States)

In a producing gas hydrate reservoir the effective porosity available for fluid flow constantly changes with dissociation of gas hydrate. Therefore, accurate prediction of relative permeability using legacy models (e.g. Brooks-Corey (B-C), van Genuchten, etc.) that were developed for conventional oil and gas reservoirs would require empirical parameters to be calibrated at various S_h over its range of variation, but such calibrations are precluded because of lack of experimental relative permeability data. This study proposes a new relative permeability model for gas hydrate-bearing media that is a function of maximum capillary pressure, capillary entry pressure, pore size distribution index, residual saturations, hydrate saturation, and four other constants. The three novel features of the proposed model are: (i) requires fitting its six empirical parameters only once using experimental data from any single S_h, and the same set of empirical parameters predict relative permeability at all S_h, (ii) includes the effect of capillarity, and (iii) includes the effect of pore-size distribution. From practical standpoint, the model can be used to simulate multiphase flow in gas hydrate-bearing sediments where the proposed relative permeability can account for the evolving hydrate saturation. The proposed model is implemented in a numerical simulator and the wall time required to perform simulations using the proposed model is shown to be similar to the time it takes to run same simulations with the B-C model. The proposed model is a step forward towards achieving the goal of physically accurate modeling of multiphase flow for gas hydrate-bearing sediments that accounts for the effect of gas hydrate saturation change on relative permeability.

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Research Organization:: National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER). Earth and Environmental Systems Science Division

Grant/Contract Number:: FE0031731

OSTI ID:: 1629975

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Vol. 10, Issue 1; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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High-altitude well log evaluation of a permafrost gas hydrate reservoir in the Muli area of Qinghai, China Lin, Zhenzhou; Pan, Heping; Fang, Hui Scientific Reports, Vol. 8, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30795-x	journal	August 2018

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