Abstract
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) published “Japan's Methane Hydrate R&D Program” in July, 2001. The Research Consortium for Methane Hydrate Resources in Japan was established in March, 2002, to carry out the Program. Phase 1 of the Program finished successfully in March, 2009, and was changed over to second phase.
In Eastern Nankai Trough area, methane hydrate in pore-filling type was found in 1999. Features of methane hydrat formations were emerged by the METI Exploratory test wells in 2004. Concentrated zones of methane hydrate were found in turbidite sand layers. A lot of core samples containing hydrate were recovered with pressure-temperature core sampler (PTCS). A method of extraction of the concentrated zones of methane hydrate from seismic data was obtained by analysis of wire-line, core, and seismic data.
Estimation of in-place of methane gas in hydrate formation in Eastern Nankai Trough area was carried out using a volumetric method through probabilistic approach. The total in-place of methane gas in the area amounted to about 1 trillion m3 as a mean value.
High-pressure - low-temperature laboratories were established to investigate properties of natural and synthetic core samples of methane hydrate formations and carry out production tests using these core samples under in-situ environmental conditions. A numerical simulator “MH21-HYDRES” was developed for predicting methane gas production from hydrate formations.
Methane production tests at hydrate formations were carried out twice in the Mackenzie Delta in Canada with international collaboration. In the second test in March, 2008, gas was produced continuously for 6 days with depressurization method from a perforation interval of 12 m in the hydrate formation. A cumulative gas production of the test amounted to about 13,000 m3. The test was interrupted under an agreement of the test period.
