[Vision2020] 5/2/2012: U.S./Japan Completes Trial of Methane Hydrate Production

[Ted Moffett]

Methane hydrates globally hold more carbon than all traditional fossil
fuels, oil, coal, natural gas, combined.  Much of this may never be
commercially recoverable, but as the following test for methane hydrate
production of methane reveals, work is ongoing to develop this fossil fuel
source.

It could be argued that substituting methane hydrate derived energy for
coal or oil would help reduce human CO2 emissions related climate change,
due to methane releasing less CO2 into the atmosphere per unit of energy.
But methane hydrate energy production might end up for the most part being
added to the impacts of continuing oil and coal energy, not used largely as
a better substitute.  This scenario is already occurring to some extent
with natural gas, which as exploitation of this cleaner energy expands, we
do not see substantial reductions in absolute amounts of consumption of oil
and coal, globally.  Also the question of how much methane might simply
escape into the atmosphere in methane hydrate extraction efforts, is
critical.  Methane is a more powerful greenhouse gas than CO2.

http://energy.gov/articles/us-and-japan-complete-successful-field-trial-methane-hydrate-production-technologies

U.S. and Japan Complete Successful Field Trial of Methane Hydrate
Production Technologies
May 2, 2012 - 10:40am

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced today the
completion of a successful, unprecedented test of technology in the North
Slope of Alaska that was able to safely extract a steady flow of natural
gas from methane hydrates – a vast, entirely untapped resource that holds
enormous potential for U.S. economic and energy security. Building upon
this initial, small-scale test, the Department is launching a new research
effort to conduct a long-term production test in the Arctic as well as
research to test additional technologies that could be used to locate,
characterize and safely extract methane hydrates on a larger scale in the
U.S. Gulf Coast.

“The Energy Department’s long term investments in shale gas research during
the 70s and 80s helped pave the way for today’s boom in domestic natural
gas production that is projected to cut the cost of natural gas by 30
percent by 2025 while creating thousands of American jobs,” said Secretary
Chu. “While this is just the beginning, this research could potentially
yield significant new supplies of natural gas.”

*What are Methane Hydrates?*

Methane hydrates are 3D ice-lattice structures with natural gas locked
inside, and are found both onshore and offshore – including under the
Arctic permafrost and in ocean sediments along nearly every continental
shelf in the world. The substance looks remarkably like white ice, but it
does not behave like ice. When methane hydrate is “melted,” or exposed to
pressure and temperature conditions outside those where it is stable, the
solid crystalline lattice turns to liquid water, and the enclosed methane
molecules are released as gas.

*Successful Field Test on the Alaska North Slope*

The Department of Energy has partnered with ConocoPhillips and the Japan
Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation to conduct a test of natural gas
extraction from methane hydrate using a unique production technology,
developed through laboratory collaboration between the University of
Bergen, Norway, and ConocoPhillips. This ongoing, proof-of-concept test
commenced on February 15, 2012, and concluded on April 10. The team
injected a mixture of carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrogen into the formation,
and demonstrated that this mixture could promote the production of natural
gas. Ongoing analyses of the extensive datasets acquired at the field site
will be needed to determine the efficiency of simultaneous CO2 storage in
the reservoirs.

This test was the first ever field trial of a methane hydrate production
methodology whereby CO2 was exchanged in situ with the methane molecules
within a methane hydrate structure. As part of this exchange demonstration,
the depressurization (i.e., production through decreasing pressure of the
deposit) phase of the test extended for 30 days*.* The prior
longest-duration field test of methane hydrate extraction via
depressurization was six days (Japan-Canada 2007/2008 Mallik well testing
program).

This testing will provide critical information to advance the Department’s
efforts to evaluate various potential gas hydrate production technologies.
The next stages of the Department’s research effort will be aimed in part
at evaluating gas hydrate production over longer durations, likely through
depressurization, with the eventual goal of making sustained production
economically viable. While this may take years to accomplish, the same
could be said of the early shale gas research and technology demonstration
efforts that the Department backed in the 1970s and 1980s.

*A New Research Effort*

Today, the Department is announcing two major new steps in the overall
methane hydrate research effort:

1) The Department is making $6.5 million available in Fiscal Year 2012
Funding Opportunity Announcement for research into technologies to locate,
characterize and safely extract natural gas from methane hydrate formations
like those in the Arctic and along the U.S. Gulf Coast. Specifically,
projects will address (1) deepwater gas hydrate characterization via direct
sampling and/or remote sensing field programs; (2) new tools and methods
for monitoring, collecting, and analyzing data to determine reservoir
response and environmental impacts related to methane hydrate production;
and (3) clarifying methane hydrates role in the environment, including
responses to warming climates.

2) As part of the President’s budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2013, the
Department is requesting an additional $5 million to further gas hydrates
research both domestically, and in collaboration with international
partners. The exact nature of that research effort will be determined in
the coming months; however, a longer duration test of methane hydrate
extraction on the North Slope on an existing gravel bed pad that can
accommodate year-round operations is envisioned. Such an effort would again
require engaging private sector and international partners.

*News Media Contact: (202) 586-4940*

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*Vision2020 Post: Ted Moffett*

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