Review of Sand Control and Sand Production in a Gas Hydrate Reservoir

Natural gas hydrate is a kind of clean energy that is still in the preliminary exploitation test stage. In recent years, research of exploration, experiment, and trial production has shown that sand production is one of the crucial issues restricting the commercial exploitation of hydrate. However, the construction of a research system for sand production and sand control of hydrate reservoirs is still incomplete. To better study the sand production mechanism and optimize the design of sand control methods in the production of gas hydrate, this review evaluates the recent research advances of sand control for hydrate production, summarizes the mechanical characteristics and dynamic response of hydrate sediment, and proposes that the analysis of the hydrate sand control design and sand production mechanism should be combined with the fluid-solid thermal coupling theory on the exploitation and that the comprehensive influence of saturation, confining pressure, temperature, pore pressure, and limited production pressure should also be considered. All of these field operation methods and parameters, using the comprehensive integration of sand control methods of production wells as the analysis boundary condition, are evaluated in depth on the influence of sand production and the degree of settlement and consolidation of a hydrate reservoir. Therefore, it will provide reference for the subsequent commercial exploitation of a hydrate reservoir and industrial application of safety production.