Research and Development | Japan Oil Engineering Co., Ltd.

Methane hydrate is ice-like substance in which methane molecule is trapped in a cage-like structure constructed by the water molecules under low temperature and high pressure. It has been attracting attention as the next generation of energy, since it can be expected sizable endowment under the seabed around Japan, and the emissions of carbon dioxide is less and clean at the time of combustion.
JOE has played a role in the development of "numerical simulator" to predict the decomposition and production behavior of methane hydrate in the field scale. Also, JOE has been active in various scenes in methane hydrate research and development including reservoir simulation and reservoir modeling for the world's first offshore methane hydrate production test off the coast of Japan.

Now that global warming is becoming a serious problem, a variety of efforts to reduce air emission of carbon dioxide have been made in many parts of the world. As one of the promising solutions to the problem, CCS (CO₂ Capture and Storage) has received a lot of attention recently, in which carbon dioxide is injected into underground geological formations.

JOE analyzes the behavior of CO₂ injected into geological formations by reservoir simulator to investigate the stability of stored CO₂ over a long period of time. For example, JOE simulates CO₂ migration in the reservoir, dissolution in the formation water, and the well placements to suppress the pressure rise which CO₂ injection causes.

In addition, CO₂ is precipitated as carbonate minerals by reacting with some types of rock, which enable stable storage over tens of thousands years.

However, flow simulation including this series of reactions takes a very long computation time, and also has many difficulties in the convergence of the calculation. Therefore, it can be considered as an advanced simulation. JOE has a lot of experience in such simulations, and is providing consultation services relating to such problems.
The optimal well placements and well controls can achieve more stable and efficient CO₂ storage. To make highly reliable assessments for such optimal problems, JOE applies some optimization algorithms to the simulations.