Natural Gas Hydrate - Arctic Ocean Deepwater Resource Potential

114 Pages·2013·2.24 MB·English

by  Michael D. Max

SPRINGER BRIEFS IN ENERGY
Michael D. Max
Arthur H. Johnson
William P. Dillon
Natural Gas
Hydrate - Arctic
Ocean Deepwater
Resource Potential
SpringerBriefs in Energy
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Michael D. Max · Arthur H. Johnson
William P. Dillon
Natural Gas Hydrate - Arctic
Ocean Deepwater Resource
Potential
1 3
Michael D. Max
Arthur H. Johnson
William P. Dillon
Hydrate Energy International, Inc.
Kenner, LA
USA
ISSN 2191-5520 ISSN 2191-5539 (electronic)
ISBN 978-3-319-02507-0 ISBN 978-3-319-02508-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-02508-7
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Preface
Natural gas hydrate (NGH) is the last of the recognized unconventional resources
of natural gas and perhaps the greatest. Coalbed methane, for which depressuriza-
tion proved to be the critical factor, and tight/shale gas, for which fracking and
lateral, long-pay section drilling are key, have radically altered the indigenous gas
resource/reserves in the United States. A median global resource potential for high
grade NGH sands, which are deepwater host sediments for NGH based on a new
petroleum system approach, may have as much as 43,300 trillion cubic feet (TCF)
gas-in-place, of which 50 % may be technically recoverable (Johnson 2011). This
compares with resource and reserve estimates for coalbed methane of 9,000 TCF,
shale gas of 16,000 TCF, and tight gas of 7,400 TCF (NPC 2007).
There is increasing evidence that natural gas can be produced from high-grade
NGH concentrations (Max et al. 2006) hosted by coarse-grained and sandy sedi-
ments using existing conventional oil and gas production technology (Moridis and
Kowalsky 2006). In addition, the physical nature and location of NGH may allow
much less expensive innovative technology to be used in drilling and other aspects
of exploration and production. While the volume of natural gas (NG) contained in
the world’s NGH accumulations may greatly exceed that of other NG resources
(Collett 2002), a substantial proportion of NGH is present in low-grade accumula-
tions (Boswell and Collett 2011) that are unlikely to be developed commercially
(Moridis and Sloan 2007) using existing technology and methods. Innovation and
new production techniques may also render the natural gas in these low grade
NGH deposits commercial, which would have the effect of greatly enlarging the
NGH resource base.
Many have dismissed oceanic NGH as a gas resource for the far future.
However, the world’s first technical production test of oceanic NGH was carried
out on the 40 TCF Nankai NGH deposit according to a planned timeline (Kurihara
et al. 2011) during March 2013 by JOGMEC (2013). The deposit is scheduled for
production in 2018, which is only 5 years from the first production test. This is a
development timeline consistent with conventional deepwater field development.
Commercial production of NGH off Japan is likely because natural gas produced
from the Nankai NGH deposit should compete well with the rather high delivered
price of liquefied natural gas (LNG) that has been in the $15–$18 MMcf range in
the 2011–2013 time period. We submit that once the Japanese begin to be able to
replace gas imports with indigenous production from NGH, this will both affect
v
vi Preface
the world LNG business and stimulate other NGH development. In addition to the
Japanese, Korea, India, and China have aggressive NGH exploration programs in
which drilling and production tests are scheduled (as of late summer 2013) for
2013 and 2014.
Recent development of shale gas in North America has provided a large gas
supply that may delay the development of NGH there. In other countries that have
NGH potential, however, development of indigenous gas supply for energy secu-
rity is a national priority. Although NGH will likely be developed by countries
for which NGH is an indigenous potential resource, its commercialization is in
its infancy. As development takes place, and new and improved technologies are
brought into play, it is possible that NGH may become competitive with other gas
resources on a produced price basis. We suggest that commercialization of NGH
would have the same disruptive effect on the world gas market that the develop-
ment of land-based unconventional resources in North America has achieved since
2005.
The Arctic Ocean provides a particularly useful area in which to apply the gen-
eral principles of assessing NGH resource potential from the different aspects of
the NGH petroleum system. The Arctic Ocean is compact, has a related geologi-
cal history for potential host sediments and is a recognized hydrocarbon province,
and is affected broadly by the same weather and climate conditions. The principles
applied here can be applied along any other continental margin, particularly those
that have Pleistocene glacial history, in order to determine NGH potential.
References
Boswell R, Collett TS (2011) Current perspectives on gas hydrate resources. Energy Environ Sci
4:1206–1215. doi:10.1039/c0ee00203h
Collett, T. S. 2002. Energy resource potential of natural gas hydrates: American Association of
Petroleum Geologists Bulletin 86, 1971–1992.
JOGMEC (2013) News release. Gas production from methane hydrate layers confirmed.
www.jogmec.go.jp. Accessed 12 March 2013, p 3
Johnson AH (2011) Global resource potential of gas hydrate—a new calculation. Fire in the ice.
NETL, U.S. Department of Energy 11(2):1–4
Kurihara M, Ouchi H, Sato A, Yamamoto K, Noguchi S, Narita J, Nagao N, Masuda Y (2011)
Prediction of performance of methane hydrate production tests in the eastern Nankai Trough.
Proceedings of the 7th international conference on gas hydrates (ICGH 2011), Edinburgh,
Scotland, United Kingdom, 17–21 July 2011, p 16
Max MD, Johnson A , Dillon WP (2006) Economic geology of natural gas hydrate. Springer,
Berlin, Dordrecht, p 341
Moridis GJ, Kowalsky M (2006) Gas production from unconfined Class 2 oceanic hydrate
accumulations. In: Max MD (ed) Natural gas hydrate: in oceanic and permafrost environ-
ments, 2nd edn. Kluwer Academic Publishers (now Springer), London, Boston, Dordrecht, p
249–266
Moridis, G.J. & Sloan, E.D. 2007. Gas production potential of disperse low-saturation hydrateac-
coumulations in oceanic sediments. Energy Conversion and Management 48, 1834-1849.
NPC. 2007. Topic Paper #29, Unconventional Gas. Working Document of the NPC Global Oil&
Gas Study. Team Leader, Holditch, S.A. et al. National Petroleum Council, 52pp.<www.npc.org/
study_topic_papers/29-ttg-unconventional-gas.pdf>.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Tim Collett (U.S. Geological Survey) and Ray Boswell (U.S.
Department of Energy), principal among the many colleagues who have brought
the unconventional NGH resource from a scientific curiosity to the threshold of
responsible commercial development. Special thanks also to Jurgen Meinert
(Institute for Geology, University of Tromsø, Norway).
vii
Contents
1 The Arctic Ocean ............................................ 1
1.1 Tectonics of the Arctic Basin ............................... 3
References .................................................. 6
2 Sediment Delivery Systems; Ice, Rivers and the Continental
Margin .................................................... 9
2.1 East Alaska—North American Arctic Islands—Greenland
Margin ................................................ 12
2.2 Greenland .............................................. 12
2.3 Barents—Kara Seas Margin ................................ 13
2.3.1 West Barents Margin ............................... 13
2.3.2 NW Barents Margin ................................ 14
2.3.3 St. Anna Trough ................................... 14
2.3.4 Kara Sea—Eastern Margin ........................... 14
2.4 Laptev Sea—West Siberian Arctic Sea Zone ................... 15
2.5 East Siberian Sea Zone .................................... 16
References .................................................. 17
3 Natural Gas Hydrate: Environmentally Responsive Sequestration
of Natural Gas .............................................. 19
References .................................................. 23
4 NGH as an Unconventional Energy Resource .................... 25
4.1 Permafrost NGH ......................................... 26
4.1.1 Geologically Trapped ............................... 27
4.1.2 Permafrost-Related, Non-Geologically Trapped .......... 28
4.1.3 Vein-Type Deposits ................................ 28
4.2 Oceanic NGH ........................................... 29
References .................................................. 30
ix
x Contents
5 Elements of the NGH Petroleum System ........................ 33
5.1 Sufficient Gas Source/Flux and the BSR ...................... 35
5.2 Migration Pathways/Feeding the Thermodynamic Trap
in the GHSZ ............................................ 38
5.3 NGH High-Grade Reservoirs ............................... 40
5.3.1 GHSZ Thickness .................................. 41
5.3.2 Suitable Sediment Hosts (Turbidite Sands) .............. 41
References .................................................. 44
6 Path to NGH Commercialization ............................... 47
References .................................................. 52
7 Gas Production from NGH: We Have All the Basic Tools ........... 55
7.1 Phase 1. Basin Analysis ................................... 57
7.2 Phase 2. Potential Reservoir Localization ..................... 58
7.3 Phase 3. Deposit Characterization and Valuation ................ 58
References .................................................. 59
8 What More Do We Need to Know? ............................. 61
8.1 Exploration Factors ...................................... 62
8.1.1 BSR Identification from Reflection Seismic Data ......... 63
8.1.2 Heat Flow Data/Geothermal Gradients ................. 63
8.1.3 Natural Gas Migration Path Analysis ................... 65
8.1.4 Exploration Drilling ................................ 65
8.2 Production Factors ....................................... 66
8.2.1 Drilling in Preparation for Gas Production .............. 66
8.2.2 Thermodynamic Models for NGH Conversion ........... 66
8.2.3 Geotechnical Models ............................... 67
8.2.4 Flow Assurance ................................... 68
8.2.5 Logistics and Infrastructure .......................... 68
8.3 NGH-Specific Technology Opportunities ..................... 69
8.3.1 Moving to the Seafloor .............................. 71
8.3.2 Drilling and Logging ............................... 71
8.3.3 Undersea Processing and Completions ................. 72
8.3.4 NGH: Specific Vessels/Seismic Survey ................. 72
8.4 Will NGH Deposits Be Commercially Competitive with
Conventional Gas? ....................................... 73
References .................................................. 74
9 NGH Likelihood in the Arctic Ocean ........................... 77
References .................................................. 83
Contents xi
10 Estimates of the NGH Resource Base in the Arctic Region ......... 85
References ................................................. 88
11 Oceanic NGH: Low Risk Resource in Fragile Arctic
Environment .............................................. 91
11.1 Risk Factors of Conventional Hydrocarbon Production ........ 93
11.2 Inherent Geosafety of NGH Production ..................... 93
References ................................................. 97
12 Economic and Political Factors Bearing on NGH
Commercialization ......................................... 99
References ................................................. 101
13 Logistical Factors for Arctic NGH Commercialization ............ 103
References ................................................. 106
14 Natural Gas as Fuel and Renewable Energy Aspects ............. 109
References ................................................. 110
Index ......................................................... 111