Investigation of Gas-Water-Sand Fluid Resistivity Property as Potential Application for Marine Gas Hydrate Production

The phase fraction measurement of gas-water-sand fluid in downhole is an important premise for safe and stable exploitation of natural gas hydrates, but the existing phase fraction measurement device for oil and natural gas exploitation can’t be directly applied to hydrate exploitation. In this work, the electrical resistivity properties of different gas-water-sand fluid were experimentally investigated using the multiphase flow loop and static solution experiments. The effect of gas phase fraction and gas bubbles distribution, sand fraction and sand particle size on the relative resistivity of the multiphase fluid were systematically studied. The measurement devices and operating parameters were also optimized. A novel combined resistivity method was developed, which demonstrated a good effect for the measurement of phase fractions of gas-water-sand fluid, and will have a good application potential in marine natural gas hydrates exploitation.Keywords:natural gas hydrates;sand production;multiphase fluid;phase fraction measurement;electrical resistivity;combined resistivity method