DEVELOPMENT OF A MONITORING SYSTEM FOR THE JOGMEC/NRCAN/AURORA MALLIK GAS HYDRATE PRODUCTION TEST PROGRAM

Design and construction of long term gas hydrate production facilities will require assessment of the in situ formation response to production at a field scale. Key parameters such as temperature and pressure are critical for the determination of phase conditions, others such as formation resistivity, formation acoustic properties and fluid mobility support the inference of gas hydrate saturation, permeability and porosity. An ability to continuously monitor the response of these parameters during the course of a production test would facilitate tracking of the dissociation front and yield valuable information for engineering design and verification of numerical reservoir simulators. Such a monitoring system has been designed, developed and introduced as a part of the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation and Natural Resources Canada gas hydrate production testing program carried out in the winter of 2007 in the Mackenzie Delta, Canada. While the deployment of some sensors and the acquisition of some data sets were limited due to operational problems encountered during the field program, considerable experience has been gained during all phases of the research program. In particular, the acquisition and interpretation of downhole temperature profiles and changes in formation electrical potentials during testing provide insight into the production response of the reservoir and may assist in the understanding of operational conditions and related decision-making