Gas Hydrates

Drilling

Dinesh Kumar Bishnoi

Assistant Professor
Hydrates - Why are they 2
important?
 A very large potential source of natural gas
 A hindrance to the natural gas industry

• Often cause plugging of lines and

equipment (like an “ice” plug)
 In drilling, under well control situations, hydrates may plug lines
and chokes
 The presence of clathrates at a given site can often be determined by
observation of a "Bottom Simulating Reflector" (BSR), which is a
seismic reflection at the sediment to clathrate stability zone interface
caused by the unequal densities of normal sediments and those
laced with clathrates.
A Natural Gas Resource? 3
 Conditions for hydrate formation are satisfied in more than 90% of
the ocean floors, but hydrates will only be present if there is a source
of natural gas and a structure suitable for gas accumulation
 It has been estimated that total worldwide hydrate resources are as
much as 1016 m3, or twice as large the combined fossil fuel resource.
 Possibly as much as 98% of the hydrate resource is below the world’s
oceans
 The remaining 2% that is found on land, below permafrost, is
estimated to be twice the size of the conventional natural gas
resourse
 Natural gas has been produced from hydrates for decades in Russia
 The potential risk and well problems must be considered
due to presence of gas hydrates while drilling.
 For initial assessment of these risks, the potential existence
of solid gas hydrates at the particular well location is
needed.
 For this, a superposition of gas hydrate stability curve and
the natural temperature gradient is carried out usually, see
Figure
The following parameters must be
considered prior to drilling operation

 Gas composition that forms gas hydrates;

 Formation water salinity (salts act as thermodynamic
inhibitors);
 Formation pressure profile and pressure profiles inside
the well;
 Formation temperature profile and temperature
profiles inside the well; and
 Sediment/gas hydrate and mud component/gas
hydrate interaction mechanism.
 To mitigate these drilling risks a Process-Knowledge
Management System (PKMS) has been developed.
 This PKMS allows the capture, verification, and
intelligent use of explicit and tacit knowledge, and is
constructed to allow exploitation of the knowledge
from multiple field experts, company best practice
policies, and latest technological findings.
The individual activity group
considered in PKMS are
 Making Hole (any form of depth changing actively);
 Open Hole Activity (general non-depth changing activity with no
circulation);
 Running Casing (activity necessary to put the casing in place);
 Cementing (activities carried of during cementing); Circulation
(general non-depth changing activity at which circulation takes
place);
 Cased Hole Activity (similar to Open Hole Activity but with casing in
place);
 BOP (operational to install and test the BOP); and
 Handling Tools (general non-depth changing activity with no
circulation).
A Problem in Drilling? 9

 Where hydrates are present in-situ in petroleum reservoirs,

they can cause blowouts if drilled into inadvertently.
 Extreme conditions of temperature and pressure mean that
hydrates may form during the drilling process if fluids
containing water come into contact with the reservoir fluids.
 Formation of solid hydrates can plug up subsea risers, choke
and kill lines, and BOPs
 Conditions during well shut-in are particularly favorable for
hydrate formation if high pressures are combined with falling
temperatures and there is sufficient time for equilibrium to be
reached
A Problem in Drilling? 10
 Water depths near the West Shetlands and Hebrides rapidly
reach 1,000 meters or more, with seabed temperatures down
to -2oC
 In the deepwater regions of the Gulf of Mexico the seabed
temperature is typically around 4oC or even lower
 Such extreme conditions present risks of hydrate formation
Where are Hydrates found? 11

 Hydrates are found in situ in the deep oceans of the world, on

the ocean floor or in the sediments below the seafloor
 Hydrates are found in situ in permafrost regions
 Hydrates are also found in extraterrestrial environments
Hydrate-Related Drilling Problems
12
 Choke and Kill line plugging
 Plugging of wellbore below the BOPs
 Plug formed around the drillpipe inside casing, in the the
BOPs or in the riser, preventing drillstring movement
 Plug formed in the BOPs preventing full BOP closure
 Plug keeping BOPs from opening
Hydrate-Related Drilling Problems 13

There are two basic types of hydrate-related drilling problems:

 Drilling through formations already containing natural

hydrates, and

 Experiencing drilling conditions that may be conducive to

formation of hydrates
Techniques for drilling through Zones
14
containing Hydrates
 Reduce the temperature of the drilling mud
 Drill at “controlled” drilling rates (not too fast - to reduce
heat generation rates)
 Increase mud weight - if possible
 Increase mud circulation rate to ensure turbulent flow to
achieve better cooling and to remove any gas
Techniques to avoid Hydrate 15
Formation while Drilling

 Keeping the temperature above, or the pressure below

hydrate formation conditions
 Using chemicals to depress the hydrate formation point, i.e.,
use “thermodynamic inhibitors” such as methanol, glycols
and salts (methanol is very toxic)
Techniques for avoiding Hydrate 16
Formation while Drilling - cont’d
 Adding chemicals that reduce the rate of nucleation of
hydrate crystals
 Adding chemicals to reduce the rate of growth of hydrate
crystals which have nucleated
 Adding chemicals that tend to prevent agglomeration of
crystals, so that solid plugs do not form (kinetic
inhibitors)
Thermodynamic Inhibitors 17

 Basically, thermodynamic inhibitors reduce the temperature

at which hydrates will form
 The inhibitor dissolves in the water phase, increasing the
stability of the liquid water with respect to the hydrate
 An inhibitor like methanol will also enter the gas and liquid
hydrocarbons
18
 19
Hydrate-
forming
conditions
for natural
gases
Temperatures Profile in the Gulf of Mexico
20
0

2,000

4,000

6,000
Sea Floor
Depth, ft

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000
30 35 40 45 50 55 60 65 70 75 80
Temperature, oF
Temperatures Profile in the North Sea
21
Pressures @ 8.6 lb/gal
22
0

2,000

4,000

6,000
Depth, ft

8,000

10,000

12,000

14,000

16,000
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 7,000 8,000
Pressure, psi
(not the GOM)
23
 24

Results of a
typical
hydrate
thermodynami
c test
 25
Schematic of
constant-
volume
temperature
ramping
experiment

The probability of hydrate formation increases

as you move towards the supercooled
temperature
Thermodynamic Inhibitors - cont’d
26
 Salts are the most commonly used inhibitors: NaCl, KCl and
CaCl2
 Saturated NaCl (26%) provides a ~21 oK margin relative to
pure water
 Glycols and glycerols can also be used
 Mixed inhibitors can be used and their effect is
approximately additive
 20-23% NaCl polymer muds are the most commonly used for
deepwater drilling
Kinetic Inhibitors
27
 Kinetic inhibitors work by reducing the rate of nucleation of
hydrates, the growth rate of the crystals, or the
agglomeration of the crystals
 They cannot prevent hydrate formation, but they may
increase the delay between the time when a fluid enters the
hydrate zone and the formation of a blockage
 These have not been tested in drilling
Remedies 28

Depression
of hydrate-
formation
temperatur
es with
methanol
and
diethylene
glycol
Remedies
40% 20% 29

Inhibition of hydrate
formation
temperatures caused
by glycol 0%

Glycols may
experience severe
viscosity increases at
cooler temperatures
 30

Oil-based and synthetic-based muds also require inhibition, since they

contain a water phase
Remedies
31

Note that below

~3,000 ft water
depth, inhibition
with salt alone can
not guarantee a
hydrate-free
environment

Seawater
temperature
profile

Effect of gas gravity, mud weight and salt content on

hydrate stability
Well Control Remediation Methods 32
 Prevent hydrocarbons from entering the
wellbore (adequate mud weight, rapid shut-in)
 If hydrocarbons enter the wellbore, prevent
them from reaching the wellhead (monitoring,
bullheading)
 If hydrocarbons reach the wellhead and BOP,
prevent formation of hydrates (high
salinity mud; glycol mud standby)
Well Control Remediation Methods - cont’d
33
 If hydrates do form, eliminate them (methanol on standby for
pumping down kill line, heated seawater ready to be
pumped up riser)
 Methods for removing hydrate blockages:

 Depressurization to dissociate the hydrate

 Addition of chemical inhibitors to melt the
hydrate
 External heating to dissociate the hydrate
 Mechanical (drilling)
References 34
 Clathrate Hydrates of Natural Gases, by E. Dendy Sloan, Jr., Marcel Dekker,
Inc., New York,1998.
 The Properties of Petroleum Fluids, by William D. McCain, Jr. PennWell Books,
Pennwell Publishing Company, Tulsa, Oklahoma, 1990.
 “Controlling, Remediation of fluid hydrates in deepwater drilling operations,” by
B.Edmonds, R.A.S. Moorwood and R. Szczepanski, Ultradeep Engineering, March
2001.
 IADC Deepwater Well Control Guidelines. International Association of Drilling
Contractors. Houston, Texas, 1998.
 “Lab work clarifies gas hydrate formation, dissociation,” by Yuri F. Makogon
and Stephen A. Holditch. Oil & Gas Journal, Feb.5, 2001.
 “Experiments illustrate hydrate morphology, kinetics,” by Yuri F. Makogon
and Stephen A. Holditch. Oil & Gas Journal, Feb.12, 2001.
 SPE, OTC...
 35

Thanks