Productivity comparison of radial lateral wells and horizontal snake wells applied to marine gas hydrate reservoir development

Abstract

Development of marine gas hydrate resources presents a huge challenge to the energy industry owing to the well production complications such as wellbore collapse, sand production, and low productivity. Radial lateral wells (RLW) and horizontal snake wells (HSW) have been proposed separately to mitigate these complications. We compare the productivity potentials of these two types of wells using the recently developed analytical models and field case data from a gas hydrate reservoir in the South China Sea. It is concluded that RLW will yield slightly higher gas productivity than HSW under similar conditions. Sensitivity analysis with the well models indicates that the productivity of RLW is directly proportional to the number of laterals, length of laterals, and radius of laterals, while the productivity of HSW is directly proportional to the length and radius of the horizontal wellbore. The decision of using RLW or HSW can be made based on economic analysis of well completion and production, which should be addressed in future studies.