An environmental-benign method to enhance hydrate production in clayey silty reservoir via splitting grouting

During the pivotal period of energy transition between carbon neutrality and carbon peaking, it is crucial to develop the natural gas hydrate (NGH) due to the advantages of high energy density and non-pollution. However, the NGH production also faces several significant environmental challenges that need to be addressed such as seawater intrusion, methane leakage, and submarine landslides. Therefore, an environmental-benign method to enhance hydrate production in clayey silty reservoir via splitting grouting was introduced. As a novel method for achieving the two goals of both reservoir skeleton reinforcement and permeability enhancement, is proposed to stimulate NGH reservoir. Herein, the formulation based on foamed ultrafine cement-based grout was established. The results showed that the grout has good fluidity with initial viscosity ∼500 mPa·s and consolidation time in the range of 28–50 min. Meanwhile, the consolidation performance evaluation was studied, and it showed that the consolidation is with porosity in the range of 9.41%–46.59%, permeability in the range of 51.23 mD-789.07 mD, and compressive strength in the range of 3.31 MPa–3.88 MPa. The internal pore channels are uniformly distributed with a large number of stomatal strings, which can be used as a multistage seepage channel for gas and water production from hydrate decomposition. To further examine the stimulating behavior, the effect of hydrate saturation, grouting well diameter, grouting flow rate, and in-situ stress on splitting pressure and grouting volume were analyzed, and it was found that the grout has good ability to split fracturing and grout diffusion under the conditions of axial pressure of 5 MPa, confining pressure of 4 MPa, and hydrate saturation not more than 0.30. In addition, an environmental-benign high-efficient reservoir stimulation method on a laboratory scale was proposed. The findings could provide fundamental insights and recommendations for the implementation of splitting grouting in NGH reservoirs. •An environmental-benign grouting method to stimulate hydrate reservoir was proposed.•The formulation based on foamed ultrafine cement-based grout was established.•The consolidation performance on permeability and strength was evaluated.•The factors effecting splitting pressure and grouting volume were analyzed.•The feasibility of the method was preliminarily confirmed at the laboratory scale.