--> Abstract: Natural Gas Production From Arctic Gas Hydrates, by T. S. Collett; #90990 (1993).
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COLLETT, TIMOTHY S., U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO

ABSTRACT: Natural Previous HitGasNext Hit Production From Arctic Previous HitGasNext Hit Previous HitHydratesNext Hit

One of the primary objectives of the U.S. Geological Survey/Russian Ministry of Geology (VNIGRI) cooperative research agreement is the assessment of the resource potential of the known onshore Arctic Previous HitgasNext Hit-hydrate accumulations. The Previous HitgasNext Hit Previous HithydratesNext Hit in the Russian Messoyakha field, located in the West Siberian basin, and those of the Prudhoe Bay/Kuparuk River area in northern Alaska are the most studied Previous HitgasNext Hit-hydrate accumulations in the world and the focus of our cooperative research efforts. The production history of the Messoyakha field has demonstrated that Previous HitgasNext Hit Previous HithydratesNext Hit are an immediate producible source of natural Previous HitgasNext Hit. Geologic similarities between the Messoyakha and Prudhoe Bay/Kuparuk River Previous HitgasNext Hit-hydrate accumulations further suggest that the Alaskan Previous HitgasNext Hit Previous HithydratesNext Hit may also be a producible source of natural Previous HitgasNext Hit.

The Messoyakha field, discovered in 1968, was the first producing field in the northern part of the West Siberian basin. Previous HitGasNext Hit yields from the upper part of the Messoyakha reservoir were unusually low, and analyses of production data suggested the presence of naturally occurring Previous HitgasNext Hit Previous HithydratesNext Hit. Subsequent analyses of temperature data and well logs confirmed the presence of Previous HitgasNext Hit Previous HithydratesNext Hit in the upper part of the Messoyakha reservoir, thus separating the field into an upper, Previous HitgasNext Hit hydrate, and lower, free-Previous HitgasNext Hit accumulation. Long-term production from the Previous HitgasNext Hit-hydrate part of the Messoyakha field has been achieved by a simple depressurization scheme. As production began in 1969, reservoir pressures followed predicted values. In 1971, however, measured reservoir pressures began to deviate from pred cted values, a deviation that has been attributed to the liberation of free Previous HitgasNext Hit from dissociating Previous HitgasNext Hit Previous HithydratesNext Hit. Russian researchers have estimated that about 36% (183 billion cu ft) of the Previous HitgasNext Hit withdrawn from the Messoyakha field has come from the Previous HitgasNext Hit Previous HithydratesNext Hit.

Both the Messoyakha and Prudhoe Bay/Kuparuk River Previous HitgasNext Hit-hydrate accumulations occur in similar sequences of interbedded Cretaceous and Tertiary sandstone and siltstone reservoir rocks. The presence of a significant volume of free Previous HitgasNext Hit trapped below both the Messoyakha and Prudhoe Bay/Kuparuk River Previous HitgasNext Hit-hydrate accumulations is very important to the consideration of potential production characteristics of Previous HitgasNext Hit Previous HithydratesNext Hit in Alaska. Free Previous HitgasNext Hit below the Prudhoe Bay/Kuparuk River Previous HitgasNext Hit Previous HithydratesNext Hit suggests that the depressurization production scheme used in the Messoyakha field may work in northern Alaska.

The most striking difference between the Messoyakha and Prudhoe Bay/Kuparuk River Previous HitgasNext Hit-hydrate/free-Previous HitgasNext Hit occurrences is the size of the accumulations. The total mapped area of the Previous HitgasNext Hit-hydrate occurrences in the Prudhoe Bay/Kuparuk River area is about 650 sq mi, whereas the Messoyakha field covers an area of only about 90 sq mi. This difference in field size accounts for the vast difference in the estimated Previous HitgasNext Hit volumes in the Messoyakha (2.8 trillion cu ft) vs. Prudhoe Bay/Kuparuk River (44 trillion cu ft) Previous HitgasNext Hit-hydrate accumulations, which suggests that the ultimate natural Previous HitgasNext Hit production capacity of the Prudhoe Bay/Kuparuk River Previous HitgasTop-hydrate occurrences will be much greater than the historical production from the Messoyakha field.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90990©1993 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, The Hague, Netherlands, October 17-20, 1993.