To evaluate the gas production performance of the hydrate accumulations in the South China Sea, a numerical simulation with warm brine stimulation combined depressurization has been conducted. A dual horizontal well system is considered as the well configuration in this work. In order to reduce energy input and improve energy utilization, warm brine (50 °C) is injected into the reservoir for hydrate dissociation. The effect of the intrinsic permeability of the hydrate reservoir, the salinity and the temperature of the injected brine to gas hydrate exploitation have been investigated. The numerical simulation results indicate that the average gas production rate Q_avg is about 1.23 ´ 10⁵ ST m³/day for the entire hydrate deposit, which has the same order of magnitude compared with the commercially viable production rate. The injected brine can be pumped out from the upper production well directly after the hydrate between the two wells is dissociated completely. Thus, the effective region of heat and inhibitor stimulation is limited. The sensitivity analyses indicate that the dissociation rate of hydrate can be enhanced by increasing the temperature of the injected brine and raising the salinity of the injected brine. The parametric study of permeability shows that the hydrate of the reservoir with the larger permeability has a higher dissociation rate.

Based on the available measurement data and literature on the hydrate deposits of the South China Sea, a numerical simulation with a new dual horizontal well system has been carried out. Warm brine stimulation combined with depressurization is employed as the production method. Two horizontal wells were situated in the same horizontal plane and they were placed in the middle of the Hydrate-Bearing Layer (HBL). The warm brine is injected from the left well (LW) into the reservoir, and the right well (RW) acted as the producer under constant pressure. The simulation results show that the effects of hydrate dissociation rate, gas to water ratio, and energy ratio are all better than the previous work in which the dual horizontal wells are placed in the same vertical plane. In addition, the sensitivity analysis indicates that a higher injection rate can enhance the hydrate dissociation rate and gas production rate, while a lower injection rate gives a more favorable gas to water ratio and energy ratio.

The combustion characteristics of both pure propane hydrates and the mixtures of hydrates and quartz sands were investigated by combustion experiments. The flame propagation, flame appearance, burning time and temperature in different hydrate layers were studied. For pure propane hydrate combustion, the initial flame falls in the “premixed” category. The flame propagates very rapidly, mainly as a result of burnt gas expansion. The flame finally self-extinguishes with some proportion of hydrates remaining unburned. For the hydrate-sand mixture combustion, the flame takes the form of many tiny discontinuous flames appearing and disappearing at different locations. The burn lasts for a much shorter amount of time than pure hydrate combustion. High porosity and high hydrate saturation is beneficial to the combustion. The hydrate combustion is the combustion of propane gas resulting from the dissociation of the hydrates. In both combustion test scenarios, the hydrate-dissociated water plays a key role in the fire extinction, because it is the main resistance that restrains the heat transfer from the flame to the hydrates and that prevents the hydrate-dissociated gas from releasing into the combustion zone.