Producing natural gas from methane hydrates, by taking the heat contained in a first underground zone to heat a fluid to destabilize gas hydrates present in second underground zone, and destabilizing the gas hydrates to release natural gas

摘要

The method comprises: taking the heat contained in a first underground zone (440) to heat a fluid (470) with a temperature higher or equal to a temperature allowing to destabilize gas hydrates present in a second underground zone (400); and destabilizing the gas hydrates to release natural gas by injecting the fluid at a base of the second zone underground. The fluid injected at the base of the second underground zone comes from the first underground zone. The method further comprises taking the heated water coming from the first zone while circulating the water in a heat exchanger. The method comprises: taking the heat contained in a first underground zone (440) to heat a fluid (470) with a temperature higher or equal to a temperature allowing to destabilize gas hydrates present in a second underground zone (400); and destabilizing the gas hydrates to release natural gas by injecting the fluid at a base of the second zone underground. The fluid injected at the base of the second underground zone comes from the first underground zone. The method further comprises: taking the heated water coming from the first underground zone while circulating the water in a heat exchanger to heat the fluid before injecting at the base of the second underground zone; and recovering the hydrocarbons released by the destabilization of the gas hydrates via an injection well (431) and a production well (432). The heat to heat the fluid is taken at the time of the exploitation of the first underground zone and comes from a production water produced during the production of hydrocarbons present in the first underground zone. The production water is produced by an offshore oil platform. The fluid is injected nearest to a zone of limit of stability of the gas hydrates. The injection and recovery are realized in an alternate way via the wells or in a simultaneous way via the wells. An independent claim is included for an installation for producing natural gas.