Methane hydrate form in generally two types of geologic settings: (1) on land in permafrost regions where cold temperatures persist in shallow sediments, and (2) beneath the ocean floor at water depths greater than about 500 meters (about 1,640 feet) where high pressures dominate. The hydrate deposits themselves may be several hundred meters thick.
Scientists have known about methane hydrate for a century or more. French scientists studied hydrate in 1890. In the 1930s, as natural gas pipelines were extended into colder climates, engineers discovered that hydrate, rather than ice, would form in the lines, often plugging the flow of gas.
These crystals, although unmistakably a combination of both water and natural gas, would often form at temperatures well above the freezing point of ordinary ice. Yet, for the next three decades, methane hydrate was considered only a nuisance, or at best, a laboratory oddity.
That viewpoint changed in 1964. In a northern Siberian gas field named Messoyakha, a Russian drilling crew discovered natural gas in the "frozen state," or in other words, methane hydrate occurring naturally. Subsequent reports of potentially vast deposits of "solid" natural gas in the former Soviet Union intensified interest and sent geologists worldwide on a search for how -- and where else -- methane hydrate might occur in nature. In the 1970s, hydrate was found in ocean sediments.
In late 1981, the drilling vessel Glomar Challenger, assigned by the National Science Foundation to explore off the coast of Guatemala, unexpectedly bored into a methane hydrate deposit. Unlike previous drilling operations which had encountered evidence of hydrate, researchers onboard the Challenger were able to recover a sample intact.
Today, methane hydrate has been detected around most continental margins. Around the United States, large deposits have been identified and studied in Alaska, the west coast from California to Washington, the east coast, including the Blake Ridge offshore of the Carolinas, and in the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1995, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) completed its most detailed assessment of U.S. gas hydrate resources. The USGS study estimated the in-place gas resource within the gas hydrate of the United States ranges from 112,000 trillion cubic feet to 676,000 trillion cubic feet, with a mean value of 320,000 trillion cubic feet of gas. Subsequent refinements of the data in 1997 using information from the Ocean Drilling Program have suggested that the mean should be adjusted slightly downward, to around 200,000 trillion cubic feet -- still larger by several orders of magnitude than previously thought and dwarfing the estimated 1,400 trillion cubic feet of conventional recoverable gas resources and reserves in the United States.
Worldwide, estimates of the natural gas potential of methane hydrate approach 400 million trillion cubic feet -- a staggering figure compared to the 5,500 trillion cubic feet that make up the world's currently proven gas reserves.
Why the new interest? If only one percent of the methane hydrate resource could be made technically and economically recoverable, the United States could more than double its domestic natural gas resource base.
Natural gas is an important energy source for the domestic economy, providing almost 23 percent of all energy used. Natural gas has also proven to be a reliable and efficient energy source that is less polluting than other fossil fuels and is the least carbon intensive.
Historically, the United States has produced much of the natural gas it has consumed with the balance imported from Canada through pipelines, although recently, imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) have supplemented imports from Canada. By 2025, the Energy Information Administration estimates natural gas imports will be more than 2.5 times greater than in 2003, and will supply 28 percent of total domestic natural gas consumption.
The United States will consume increasing volumes of natural gas well into the 21st century. U.S. natural gas consumption is expected to increase from about 22 trillion cubic feet today to nearly 31 trillion cubic feet in 2025 - a projected increase of over 40 percent.
Natural gas is expected to take on a greater role in power generation, largely because of increasing pressure for clean fuels and the relatively low capital costs of building new natural gas-fired power equipment. Should the nation move to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, as part of our commitment to greenhouse gas reduction, the use natural gas potentially could increase even more.
Given the growing demand for natural gas, the development of new, cost-effective supplies can play a major role in moderating price increases and ensuring adequate future supplies of natural gas for American consumers.
OF COURSE THE PEOPLE THAT BELIEVE THE GLASS IS HALF EMPTY WILL COME UP WITH A DOZEN REASONS WHY THIS RESOURCE WON'T DO THE JOB OR WILL CONTRIBUTE TO GLOBAL WARMING.
I BELIEVE THE GLASS IS HALF FULL.
I just wish Bill Gates would take $20B to solve the problems of mining this stuff. I'm convinced that he'd make a staggering profit, ignite a huge economic boom in this country, and largely free the world of the grip of islamic fascism. Well worth the expenditure.
Mostly a self-ping. :’) Another methane hydrate topic. There’s enough *known* gas hydrates on the US continental shelf to supply US energy needs for a looooong time.
The problem with hydrates is getting them from where they are to a place where we can use them.
The global warmists will indeed object to this. “You’re adding carbon to the atmosphere!”
Very interesting. Thanks for posting.
That must be a BIG glass!!
Well this interested me a little, so I thought I’d share..
being a firm believer in peak oil, my first thought was that my car doesn’t run on natural gas.. saying a natural gas discovery is going to solve the oil problem is kinda like a shortage in gold being solved by discovering more zinc.. they serve different purposes..
If oil does deplete to the point that it’s no longer feasible, then everything we have that runs on oil would have to be made to run on natural gas.. meaning that NG is no longer responsible for 22% of our energy usage, it would be more like 62%...
The line that stuck out for me was, “If only one percent of the methane hydrate resource could be made technically and economically recoverable”.
Hopefully a lot more than 1% would be realistic, as that’s not enough to do much of anything.. 1% of 200,000 trillion cubic feet would only be 2000 trillion. If used as a replacement for oil, a rate of 62 trillion cubic feet per year would only be 32 years worth.. hardly an end all solution.. it wouldn’t be long till we were dependent on foreign methane hydrates..