Experimental investigation on the production performance from oceanic hydrate reservoirs with different buried depths

Abstract Buried depth, as an inherent occurrence feature of hydrate reservoir, plays a significant role in fluid production during hydrate dissociation. In this study, we experimentally investigate the production performance of hydrate reservoirs at various buried depths beneath the seafloor. The hydrate-bearing system is synthesized in quartz sand with grain size varying between 100 and 500 μm in a 0.98 L reactor. Similar hydrate saturation is obtained at different prevailing pressures between 5.6 and 8.8 MPa. Depressurization experiments are designed to investigate the effect of buried depths on fluid production behavior. The results show that gas and water production increase with elevated buried depths at the same production pressure. However, based on the gas to water ratio, a deep-buried reservoir has a higher production potential at the initial stage. In contrast, a shallow-buried reservoir is an ideal candidate for fluid production in the later stage. Depressurization to the equilibrium P-T condition could lead to potential hydrate dissociation, but the rate is less intensive with less than 46.0 vol% hydrates dissociated in a prolonged time. The experimental results also reveal that both the design of depressurization and the reservoir depths have a combined effect on the overall fluid production performance.