Wellbore Temperature and Pressure Field in Deep-water Drilling and the Applications in Prediction of Hydrate Formation Region

Abstract

In the process of deep-water drilling, gas hydrate is easily formed in wellbores due to the low temperature and high pressure environment. In this study, a new, systematic, and accurate prediction method of temperature, pressure, and hydrate formation region in wellbores is developed. The mathematical models of wellbore pressure and transient heat transfer are established, the numerical solution method based on fully implicit finite difference method is developed, and the accuracy is verified by comparing with the field measured data. Combined with the hydrate phase equilibrium model, the hydrate formation region in wellbore is predicted, and the sensitivity effects of nine factors on wellbore temperature, pressure, and hydrate formation region are analyzed. Finally, the influence regularities and degree of each parameter are obtained. The increases of circulation time, geothermal gradient, displacement of drilling fluid, and injection temperature will inhibit the formation of hydrate in wellbores, and the influence degree increases in turn; the increases of wellhead backpressure and seawater depth will promote the formation of hydrate in wellbores, and the influence degree increases in turn. The changes of drilling fluid density, well depth, and hole deviation angle have little effect on the formation of hydrate in wellbores.