Ellis Ekhator

University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA

Publications
  • Review   
    Technical Feasibility of Using Frac-Packed Wells for Producing Natural Gas from Offshore Gas Hydrate Reservoirs
    Author(s): Xuejun Hou, Boyun Guo and Ellis Ekhator*

    This paper presents a feasibility analysis of using frac-packing completion techniques to produce natural gas from offshore gas hydrate reservoirs. A case study was carried out for the gas hydrate accumulations in the northern South China Sea. The feasibility analysis covers the requirements of proppant size, fluid injection rate, fracturing pressure, and well productivity. For the median grain size of sediments in the studied formation from 2.60 to 28.96 μm with an average value of 8.49 μm, the required range of proppant size is between 333 mesh to 748 mesh (0.001 inch ~ 0.003 inch). Since the proppants in this size range are not commercially available, it would be economical to use screened natural sands as proppants in frac-packing operations. The minimum flow rate of fracturing fluid required to carry the 0.003 inch proppant/sand into the fracture tip at 510 ft is 3.64 bpm, .. View more»

    DOI: 10.35248/2157-7463.19.10.400

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