Development and Evaluation of Large-Size Phase Change Proppants for Fracturing of Marine Natural Gas Hydrate Reservoirs

Abstract

The stimulation method of the marine natural gas hydrate (NGH) reservoir through hydraulic fracturing has been proposed to resolve the problem of the low production capacity in the conventional development method of pressure drawdown. Nevertheless, due to the strong plasticity and high argillaceous siltstone content of the marine NGH reservoir, conventional small-particle-size proppant cannot form effective support for fractures after fracturing because of serious embedding in the reservoir. To solve this problem, the large-size phase change proppants were developed in this study. First, an epoxy resin curing system that can reduce curing time to 40 min in low temperature and humid environment was developed. Then, the epoxy resin and curing system was emulsified, and through the optimization of the emulsification process, the particle size of the proppant can be controlled in 0.5–4.5 mm and the cementation between the proppant particles during the curing process can be prevented. Finally, the proppant performances were evaluated. The performance evaluation shows that the cured proppants have regular structure and good compressive strength, and the emulsion proppants have good transport capacity. Their large sizes provide effective propping effects for fractures generated in weakly cemented clayey silt marine NGH reservoirs.