Naturally occurring methane hydrate may represent an
enormous source of methane, the main component of natural gas, and could
ultimately augment conventional natural gas supplies, says a new congressionally
mandated report from the National Research Council. Although a number of
challenges require attention before commercial production can be realized, no
technical challenges have been identified as insurmountable. Moreover, the U.S.
Department of Energy's (DOE) Methane Hydrate Research and Development Program
has made considerable progress in the past five years toward understanding and
developing methane hydrate as a possible energy resource.
"DOE's program and programs in the national and
international research community provide increasing confidence from a technical
standpoint that some commercial production of methane from methane hydrate
could be achieved in the United States before 2025," says Charles Paull,
chair of the committee that wrote the report, and senior scientist, Monterey
Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. "With global energy demand
projected to increase, unconventional resources such as methane hydrate become
important to consider as part of the future U.S. energy portfolio and could
help provide more energy security for the United States."
Methane hydrate, a solid composed of methane and water,
occurs in abundance on the world's continental margins and in permafrost
regions, such as in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska's North Slope. Although the
total global volume of methane in methane hydrate still is debated, estimates
yield figures that are significant compared with the global supplies of
conventional natural gas. The existence of such a large and untapped energy
resource has provided a strong global incentive to determine how methane might
be produced from methane hydrate safely, economically, and in an
environmentally sensible way.
Some
of the remaining challenges to production identified by the committee include
developing the technology necessary to produce methane from methane hydrate,
and understanding methane hydrate's potential to behave as a geohazard. For
example, industry practice is to avoid methane-hydrate bearing areas during
drilling for conventional oil and gas resources for safety reasons. However,
avoidance will not be possible if methane hydrate is the production target. In
addition, the committee recommended research and development areas for DOE's
program, such as designing production tests, appraising and mitigating
environmental issues related to production, and determining with greater
accuracy the methane hydrate resources on the Alaska North Slope and in marine
reservoirs.
