`DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
Claims 1 and 3-6 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vail III (U.S. Patent No. 7,234,542) in view of Li (U.S. Pub. No. 2024/0183250).
Regarding Claim 1, Vail III discloses a method for undersea in-situ exploitation of natural gas hydrates, comprising:
Carrying an undersea in-situ exploitation system to a target sea area using a vessel configured to deploy a deep-water equipment, and selecting a well location according to a well pattern layout diagram, wherein the undersea in-situ exploitation system comprises a drilling device (Vail III: Column 13: lines 41-58, Column 16: lines 46-59) and a completion device (Vail III: Column 18: lines 12-27),;
Lowering the drilling device (Vail III: Column 13: lines 41-58, Column 16: lines 46-59) from a sea surface, and drilling a well using a casing drilling technique;
Lowering the completion device (Vail III: Column 18: lines 12-27) from the sea surface, lowering a completion pipe string into the well, and connecting the completion device (Vail III: Column 18: lines 12-27) to an undersea wellhead at the undersea wellhead to perform a completion operation (Li: 13, 15, Paragraph [0018]-[0020]: drilling and production equipment carried to and lowered to sea floor); and
Vail does discloses obtaining a well pattern layout diagram (Vail III: Column 26: lines 27-53, Column 28: lines 17-39; Column 28: lines 17-28: measurements include angle, direction, and dip are utilized in logging well characteristics).
Vail however does not disclose the well pattern layout diagram consisting of a natural gas hydrate exploitation block based on a natural gas hydrate simulation exploitation model;
Lowering a wellhead device from the sea surface, connecting the wellhead device to the completion pipe string, connecting the wellhead device to a production pipeline; or
Opening a valve of a wellhead device to start a depressurization exploitation process to reduce a pressure at a reservoir depth to decompose the natural gas hydrates in a reservoir into a gas and water, wherein the gas and the water flow into the production pipeline to be extracted
Li discloses wherein obtaining a well pattern layout diagram consists of a natural gas hydrate exploitation block based on a natural gas hydrate simulation exploitation model (Li: Paragraph [0046]: well arrangement for hydrate exploitation purposes);
Lowering a wellhead device (Li: Paragraph [0020]) from the sea surface, connecting the wellhead device (Li: Paragraph [0020]) to the completion pipe string, connecting the wellhead device (Li: Paragraph [0020]) to a production pipeline; or
Opening a valve of a wellhead device (Li: Paragraph [0020]) to start a depressurization exploitation process to reduce a pressure at a reservoir depth to decompose the natural gas hydrates in a reservoir into a gas and water, wherein the gas and the water flow into the production pipeline to be extracted (Li: Paragraph [0022]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the time of the invention’s effective filing date to have utilized the hydrate exploitation method of Li in the invention of Vail III with the predictable result of extracting natural gas hydrates in an undersea environment as disclosed by Li (Li: Abstract) in conjunction with the well-known-in-the-art drilling and completion method of Vail III.
Regarding Claim 3, Vail III and Li render obvious the method for the undersea in-situ exploitation of the natural gas hydrates according to claim 1, Vail III also teaches that it is well known wherein a well pattern layout diagram (not specifically for natural gas hydrates) indicates a location, a depth, and a dip angle of individual well, as well as a direction and a distance between different wells (Vail III: Column 26: lines 27-53, Column 28: lines 17-39; Column 28: lines 17-28: measurements include angle, direction, and dip are utilized in logging well characteristics).
Regarding Claim 4, Vail III and Li render obvious the method for the undersea in-situ exploitation of the natural gas hydrates according to claim 1, wherein the step of lowering the drilling device (Vail III: Column 13: lines 41-58, Column 16: lines 46-59) from the sea surface to drill the well using the casing drilling technique comprises:
Completing a lowering of an undersea drilling rig at a target location firstly, and completing a deployment of the undersea wellhead and a stable placement of the undersea drilling rig under a control of a mechanical mechanism; and after confirming that a location of the undersea wellhead is correct and the undersea drilling rig is placed stably, starting to drill the well using the casing drilling technique, completing a drilling process by repeating the drilling process following steps of pipe string accessing and connecting, rotating and drilling, pipe string accessing and connecting, rotating and drilling, and meanwhile, completing a circulation and discharge of drilling mud, wherein a whole process is completed by a remote operation and control on the sea surface (Vail III: Column 6: line 52 – Column 7: line 29).
Regarding Claim 5, Vail III and Li render obvious the method for the undersea in-situ exploitation of the natural gas hydrates according to claim 1, wherein the step of lowering the completion device (Vail III: Column 18: lines 12-27) from the sea surface, lowering the completion pipe string into the well, and connecting the completion device (Vail III: Column 18: lines 12-27) to the undersea wellhead at the undersea wellhead to conduct the completion operation comprises:
Lowering the completion device (Vail III: Column 18: lines 12-27) from the sea surface;
Connecting the completion device (Vail III: Column 18: lines 12-27) to the undersea wellhead at the undersea wellhead, injecting cement slurry between a casing and a borehole of the well; after the cement slurry solidifies to complete a well cementing operation and a connection between the reservoir and a wellbore space is completed, lowering the completion pipe string carried by the completion device (Vail III: Column 18: lines 12-27) into the well; and then lowering the wellhead device (Li: Paragraph [0020]) from the sea surface, and connecting the wellhead device (Li: Paragraph [0020]) to the completion pipe string, wherein a whole process is completed by a remote operation and control on the sea surface (Vail III: Column 6: line 52 – Column 7: line 29).
Regarding Claim 6, Vail III and Li render obvious the method for the undersea in-situ exploitation of the natural gas hydrates according to claim 1, wherein in a whole process of drilling, completion, and exploitation, a support vessel provides energy and electricity, an underwater hydraulic system provides hydraulic power for each mechanical structure, an undersea monitoring system provides operating data and monitoring images, and an electrical and automatic control system provides electricity transmission, voltage change, signal communication transmission, operation, and control, and provides emergency disposal signals in an emergency (Vail III: Column 5: line 32 – Column 6: line 14).
Claims 2 and 7 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vail III in view of Li, further in view of Walters (U.S. Pub. No. 2017/0123089).
Regarding Claim 2, Vail III and Li render obvious the method for the undersea in-situ exploitation of the natural gas hydrates according to claim 1, but do not disclose wherein the step of obtaining the well pattern layout diagram of the natural gas hydrate exploitation block based on the natural gas hydrate exploitation model comprises: obtaining geological data and geophysical and geochemical parameters of a target natural gas hydrate block to establish the natural gas hydrate exploitation model; and conducting exploitation simulation experiments under a plurality of well pattern layout schemes, and meanwhile , repeatedly deducing production data under the plurality of well pattern layout schemes using a numerical simulation method to select an optimal well pattern layout scheme to design a well pattern layout diagram of a target natural gas hydrate exploitation block; wherein the natural gas hydrate exploitation model simulates real conditions on a laboratory scale.
Murray discloses a reservoir simulation step of obtaining a well pattern layout diagram of a natural gas hydrate exploitation block based on the natural gas hydrate exploitation model comprising:
Obtaining geological data and geophysical and geochemical parameters of a target natural gas hydrate block to establish the natural gas hydrate exploitation model (Murray: Paragraph [0110]: reservoir simulation tool utilizing various sensing methods; Paragraph [0019]: for use in gas-hydrate deposits) ; and
Conducting exploitation simulation experiments under a plurality of well pattern layout schemes, and meanwhile, repeatedly deducing production data under the plurality of well pattern layout schemes using a numerical simulation method to select an optimal well pattern layout scheme to design a well pattern layout diagram of a target natural gas hydrate exploitation bloc (Murray: Paragraph [0099])k; wherein
The natural gas hydrate exploitation model simulates real conditions on a laboratory scale (Murray: Paragraph [0099]).
It would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the applicant’s invention to have utilized the data gathering method of Walters in the invention rendered obvious by Vail III and Li, with the predictable result of optimizing a completion design with the location and characteristics of the hydrate deposit to be exploited as disclosed by Murray (Murray: Paragraph: [0183]).
Regarding Claim 7, Vail III, Li, and Murray render obvious the method for the undersea in-situ exploitation of the natural gas hydrates according to claim 2, wherein the well pattern layout diagram indicates a location, a depth, and a dip angle of individual well, as well as a direction and a distance between different wells (Vail III: Column 26: lines 27-53, Column 28: lines 17-39; Column 28: lines 17-28: measurements include angle, direction, and dip are utilized in logging well characteristics)..
Conclusion
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure. US 20210087918 (Active control method and control device for wellbore pressure in the open-cycle drilling of marine natural gas hydrates), US 20230272696 (METHOD FOR DEEP-SEA EXTRACTION OF NATURAL GAS HYDRATES WITH RESERVOIR TOP CONTROL AND SAND PREVENTION), US 20080060804 (Method and system for accessing subterranean deposits from the surface and tools therefor), US 20250156612 (SIMULATION METHOD AND SYSTEM OF JOINT EXPLOITATION OF NATURAL GAS HYDRATE, SHALLOW GAS AND DEEP-SEATED GAS), US 20240410258 (SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PRODUCING NATURAL GAS FROM HYDRATE DEPOSITS AND FOR STORING CARBON DIOXIDE), US 10704350 (Process for drilling natural gas hydrates with submersible core drilling rig using pressure wireline).
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DOUGLAS S WOOD whose telephone number is (571)270-5954. The examiner can normally be reached Monday through Thursday 8:30 AM - 7:00 PM EST.
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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Nicole A Coy can be reached at (571) - 272 - 5405. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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DOUGLAS S. WOOD
Examiner
Art Unit 3679
/DOUGLAS S WOOD/Examiner, Art Unit 3679
/Nicole Coy/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 3672