Specialist Forum

Enrichment characteristics and accumulation mechanism of natural gas hydrate in the Gulf of Mexico: Cases study of study area WR313 and GC955

  • Kebin ZHAO ,
  • Changqing SUN ,
  • Jiaqi GUO ,
  • Chuanzhi WU
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  • Wuxi Research Institute of Petroleum Geology, Sinopec Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214126, China

Received date: 2021-01-28

  Online published: 2021-10-12

Abstract

As a hot area in global gas hydrate research field, the hydrate exploration in the Gulf of Mexico has been carried out for decades. Especially in the selected key exploration targets, study area WR313 and GC955, the hydrate accumulation and enrichment features have been studied. Based on the gas hydrate exploration results of these two study areas, the vertical distribution, the lithofacies features of favorable reservoirs are summarized, and the hydrate accumulation mechanisms have been analyzed to reflect the latest gas hydrate exploration and research progress in this gulf. The gas hydrate exploration results indicate that there are mainly two occurrence types of gas hydrates existing in these study areas, namely, the pore-filling type in sand and the fracture-filling type in mud. The pore-filling type occurs in the deeper sand-rich sediments with relatively coarse grains, and the hydrate saturation is normally greater than 80 %, and may be up to 95 %; whereas the fracture-filling type occurs in the shallower clay dominant sediments with the low gas hydrate saturation generally less than 5 %. In addition, the main problems existing in the research of the gas hydrate accumulation mechanisms also have b een discussed, emphasizing that the accumulation of gas hydrate is a complex process influenced by many factors. Meanwhile, it is also pointed out that the identification of local sand-rich bodies deserve special attention during gas hydrate accumulation selection.

Cite this article

Kebin ZHAO , Changqing SUN , Jiaqi GUO , Chuanzhi WU . Enrichment characteristics and accumulation mechanism of natural gas hydrate in the Gulf of Mexico: Cases study of study area WR313 and GC955[J]. Petroleum Reservoir Evaluation and Development, 2021 , 11(5) : 669 -679 . DOI: 10.13809/j.cnki.cn32-1825/te.2021.05.002

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