Simulation Study on Reservoir Stimulation of Multihorizontal Wells for Gas Hydrate Production in Low-Permeability Reservoirs

The feasibility of hydrate exploitation technology has been verified by two rounds of trial productions in the South China Sea, but it is also faced with the problem of low gas production efficiency. Therefore, this paper proposed four different hydrate production cases with multihorizontal wells and established simulation models. Then, the influence patterns of reservoir stimulation and offset distances on hydrate dissociation, saturation change, and pressure distribution were studied. To understand hydrate dissociation behaviors and production performances, the coupling effects of multihorizontal wells were discussed. Through simulation, the following conclusions could be drawn: (1) hydrate reservoir stimulation could effectively increase gas production. In these four production models, the cumulative gas production in Case C (multihorizontal wells + reservoir stimulation) was 5.27 times that of Case A (only multihorizontal wells) in 330 days. However, in Case D with screen completions, the gas output was 15.58% less compared with Case C. (2) Different offset distances of horizontal wells had a relatively minor impact on the cumulative gas yield and daily gas capacity. In addition, the variation range of hydrate saturation changed with offset distances of horizontal wells, indicating that hydrate dissociation occurred mainly around horizontal wells and fractures. (3) Considering interwells coupling, the daily gas rate and cumulative gas production of inner wells were higher than outer wells, and the cumulative gas volume increased by 6.4% in 330 days. Temporally and spatially, the hydrate saturation variation between wells was significantly faster than the outward expansion from the horizontal wells. Moreover, nearer to the axis of the horizontal wells, the variation in the hydrate saturation was more pronounced. These results could provide theoretical data to optimize marine hydrate development with multihorizontal wells.