Mainly has to do with the electropolarity of oxygen in water when one is talking about breaking the hydrogen-oxygen bond; it’s extremely strong.
Making elemental hydrogen from methane by thermal cracking is also energy intensive, since high temperatures are needed to decompose the carbon in methane into elemental carbon, releasing the hydrogen gas.
I remember articles back in the stone age, where they were talking of mining Methyl Hydrate, and using it for fuel.
From what I remember about the cons was, the potential mass venting of methane into the atmosphere, and the possible explosions.
Excuse my ignorance, but isn’t methyl hydrate compressed, and basically frozen in the Earth and under the oceans? I figured it didn’t make sense, then I woke up to the fact that scientists are 95% social activists, 4% politicians, and 1% into science.