YAKUSHEV, VLADIMIR S.
VNIIGAZ, Oao Gazprom, Moscow, Russia

Abstract: "Flowers and Bees" Hydrate Technology: Possible Ways to Transform Marine Gas Hydrate Resources to Recoverable Reserves

"Flowers and Bees" Hydrate Technology (FBHT) is a system uniting deep water natural gas production by small unmanned platforms, gas transportation by hydrate carriers and carbon dioxide disposal in deep sea waters. This system is being developed in Russia for deep water conventional field production, but it can also be applied to marine gas hydrate field production. The main idea is to establish gas production from free-gas zones underlying gas hydrates via alternating periods of shut-in and production.

Preliminary economic estimation of gas production was made for free-gas associated hydrate deposits with the following parameters: total area of 100 square km; sea depth 1200 m; base of hydrate is at subbottom depth 300 m. The sub-hydrate, 50-m-thick free-gas layer is represented by aleurites (silts) with porosity of 35% and 10% of the pore volume occupied by free-gas. Total free-gas resources are about 36 x 10 billion scm of natural gas.

Production of gas according to FBHT with massive hydraulic fracturing of the under hydrate layer physically can result in production of about 24 x 10 billion scm of natural gas in this area. Specific cost of gas production in these conditions according to FBHT concept was preliminary estimated as 40-50 USD/1000 scm.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90928©1999 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas