Natural gas hydrates (NGH) is one of key future clean energy resources. Its industrialized development will help remit the huge demand of global natural gas, relieve the increasing pressure of the ...environment, and play a vital role in the green sustainable growth of human societies. Based on nearly two decades’ studying on the reservoir characteristics in the South China Sea (SCS) and the knowledge of reservoir system, the China Geological Survey (CGS) conducted the first production test on an optimal target selected in Shenhu area SCS in 2017. Guided by the “three-phase control” exploitation theory which focused on formation stabilization, technologies such as formation fluid extraction, well drilling and completing, reservoir stimulating, sand controlling, environmental monitoring, monitoring and preventing of secondary formation of hydrates were applied. The test lasted for 60 days from May 10th when starting to pump, drop pressure and ignite to well killing on July 9th, with gas production of 3.09×105 m3 in total, which is a world record with the longest continuous duration of gas production and maximal gas yield. This successful test brings a significant breakthrough on safety control of NGH production.
Shenhu Area is located in the Baiyun Sag of Pearl River Mouth Basin, which is on the northern continental slope of the South China Sea. Gas hydrates in this area have been intensively investigated, ...achieving a wide coverage of the three-dimensional seismic survey, a large number of boreholes, and detailed data of the seismic survey, logging, and core analysis. In the beginning of 2020, China has successfully conducted the second offshore production test of gas hydrates in this area. In this paper, studies were made on the structure of the hydrate system for the production test, based on detailed logging data and core analysis of this area. As to the results of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logging and sonic logging of Well GMGS6-SH02 drilled during the GMGS6 Expedition, the hydrate system on which the production well located can be divided into three layers: (1) 207.8–253.4 mbsf, 45.6 m thick, gas hydrate layer, with gas hydrate saturation of 0–54.5% (31% av.); (2) 253.4–278 mbsf, 24.6 m thick, mixing layer consisting of gas hydrates, free gas, and water, with gas hydrate saturation of 0–22% (10% av.) and free gas saturation of 0–32% (13% av.); (3) 278–297 mbsf, 19 m thick, with free gas saturation of less than 7%. Moreover, the pore water freshening identified in the sediment cores, taken from the depth below the theoretically calculated base of methane hydrate stability zone, indicates the occurrence of gas hydrate. All these data reveal that gas hydrates, free gas, and water coexist in the mixing layer from different aspects.
Clayey silt reservoirs bearing natural gas hydrates (NGH) are considered to be the hydrate-bearing reservoirs that boast the highest reserves but tend to be the most difficult to exploit. They are ...proved to be exploitable by the first NGH production test conducted in the South China Sea in 2017. Based on the understanding of the first production test, the China Geological Survey determined the optimal target NGH reservoirs for production test and conducted a detailed assessment, numerical and experimental simulation, and onshore testing of the reservoirs. After that, it conducted the second offshore NGH production test in 1225 m deep Shenhu Area, South China Sea (also referred to as the second production test) from October 2019 to April 2020. During the second production test, a series of technical challenges of drilling horizontal wells in shallow soft strata in deep sea were met, including wellhead stability, directional drilling of a horizontal well, reservoir stimulation and sand control, and accurate depressurization. As a result, 30 days of continuous gas production was achieved, with a cumulative gas production of 86.14 ×104 m3. Thus, the average daily gas production is 2.87 ×104 m3, which is 5.57 times as much as that obtained in the first production test. Therefore, both the cumulative gas production and the daily gas production were highly improved compared to the first production test. As indicated by the monitoring results of the second production test, there was no anomaly in methane content in the seafloor, seawater, and atmosphere throughout the whole production test. This successful production test further indicates that safe and effective NGH exploitation is feasible in clayey silt NGH reservoirs. The industrialization of hydrates consists of five stages in general, namely theoretical research and simulation experiments, exploratory production test, experimental production test, productive production test, and commercial production. The second production test serves as an important step from the exploratory production test to experimental production test.
In May and July of 2017, China Geological Survey (CGS), and Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey (GMGS) carried out a production test of gas hydrate in the Shenhu area of the South China Sea and ...acquired a breakthrough of two months continuous gas production and nearly 3.1 × 105 m3 of production. The gas hydrate reservoir in the Shenhu area of China, is mainly composed of fine-grained clay silt with low permeability, and very difficult for exploitation, which is very different from those discovered in the USA, and Canada (both are conglomerate), Japan (generally coarse sand) and India (fracture-filled gas hydrate). Based on 3D seismic data preserved-amplitude processing and fine imaging, combined with logging-while-drilling (LWD) and core analysis data, this paper discusses the identification and reservoir characterization of gas hydrate orebodies in the Shenhu production test area. We also describe the distribution characteristics of the gas hydrate deposits and provided reliable data support for the optimization of the production well location. Through BSR feature recognition, seismic attribute analysis, model based seismic inversion and gas hydrate reservoir characterization, this paper describes two relatively independent gas hydrate orebodies in the Shenhu area, which are distributed in the north-south strip and tend to be thicker in the middle and thinner at the edge. The effective thickness of one orebody is bigger but the distribution area is relatively small. The model calculation results show that the distribution area of the gas hydrate orebody controlled by W18/W19 is about 11.24 km2, with an average thickness of 19 m and a maximum thickness of 39 m, and the distribution area of the gas hydrate orebody controlled by W11/W17 is about 6.42 km2, with an average thickness of 26 m and a maximum thickness of 90 m.
Bottom simulating reflector (BSR) has been recognized as one of the indicators of gas hydrates. However, BSR and hydrate are not one-to-one correspondence. In the Xisha area of South China Sea (SCS), ...carbonate rocks wildly develop, which continuously distribute parallel to the seafloor with high amplitude on seismic sections, exhibiting reflections similar to BSRs in the Shenhu area nearby. This phenomenon causes some interference to hydrates identification. In this paper, the authors discussed the typical geophysical differences between carbonate rocks and hydrates, indicating that the main difference exists in relationship between porosity and velocity, causing different amplitude versus offset (AVO) characters. Then the authors proposed a new model assuming that the carbonates form the matrix and the hydrate fill the pore as a part of the matrix. The key modeling parameters have been optimized constrained by P-velocities and S-velocities simultaneously, and the model works well both for carbonate rock and gas hydrate bearing sediments. For quantitative identification, the authors calculated the velocities when carbonates and hydrates form the matrix together in different proportions. Then they proposed a carbonate and hydrate identification template (CHIT), in which the possible hydrate saturation (PHS) and possible carbonate content (PCC) can be both scaled out for a group of sample composed by P-velocity and S-velocity. If PHS is far larger than PCC, it is more likely to be a hydrate sample because carbonates and hydrates do not coexist normally. The real data application shows that the template can effectively distinguish between hydrates and carbonate rocks, consequently reducing the risk of hydrate exploration.
In this study, we examined steady-state and dynamic photosynthetic performance and leaf nitrogen (N) partitioning in the typical shade-demanding herb Panax notoginseng grown along a light gradient. ...Gas exchange on a leaf area basis was significantly reduced under low irradiance, with gas exchange on a leaf mass basis reaching a maximum value and then decreasing along the light gradient. Specific leaf area significantly increased with decreasing irradiance levels (P < 0.001), whereas carboxylation efficiency was decreased (P < 0.001). In addition, decreasing growth irradiance levels led to declines in maximum carboxylation rate (V cₘₐₓ) and maximum electron transport rate (J ₘₐₓ), although V cₘₐₓ/mass and J ₘₐₓ/mass were relatively less affected than V cₘₐₓ/area and J ₘₐₓ/area. Slow photosynthetic response to simulated sunflecks was observed under low levels of growth irradiance, with stomatal limitations only detected in leaves grown under low-light conditions. Chlorophyll content increased significantly with decreasing irradiance levels. N content on a leaf mass basis apparently increased, while N content on a leaf area basis markedly decreased. The fraction of leaf N allocated to light-harvesting components increased significantly with decreasing growth irradiance levels, whereas the fraction allocated to carboxylation and bioenergetics was significantly reduced. As an adaptation strategy to growth irradiance, we conclude that adjustments in specific leaf area may be more important than changes in leaf physiology and biochemistry in typical shade-demanding species such as P. notoginseng.
Modern atolls have been studied systematically and thoroughly in the South China Sea. However, the knowledge of a paleo-atoll and related sedimentary system is very limited. Here we used the newly ...acquired high resolution 2D seismic data, and discovered three late Miocene atoll systems in the offshore Xisha Islands for the first time. We named them atoll system A, B, C, respectively. These three atoll systems, all developed on the horsts dominated by normal fault, consist mainly of atoll reefs, patch reefs, fore-reef slope deposits, and lagoons. On the basis of the interpreted sequence stratigraphic framework and the identification of fore-reef slope deposits, we suggested only the atoll system A continued to grow until Quaternary, and both of atoll system B and C had been drowned in Pliocene. In late Miocene, the atoll systems in the study area were most developed, either in magnitude or in maturity, which indicated late Miocene was the most flourishing period of reef builders, and this was in accordance with the drilling result of ODP Leg 184 in the South China Sea. Pliocene was an important reef drowning period in the study area, and both atoll systems B and C were drowned and hemipelagic deposits prevailed gradually. Quaternary was another reef drowning period in the study area, two large atoll reefs grown on the atoll system A were finally drowned, and hemipelagic deposits begun to drape and fill the palaeo-atoll systems. The growth and drowning of atolls are controlled mainly by tectonic subsidence in long term, but global eustatic can impact it in short term also.
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