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Publications
News Release
Release Date: August 7, 2006
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New Projects to Uncover the Potential of America's
Methane Hydrate Resource |
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WASHINGTON, DC - The Department of Energy today
announced the selection of six cost-shared research and development
projects that seek to unlock a huge potential source of hydrocarbon
energy: methane hydrate.
Methane hydrate is an ice-like solid that results from the trapping
of methane molecules-the main constituent of natural gas-within a lattice-like
cage of water molecules. Dubbed the "ice that burns," this substance releases
gaseous methane when it melts. Because of the ever-present nature of
water and methane -a natural byproduct of the breakdown of organic matter by
bacteria-it has long been recognized that methane hydrate could exist in almost
any environment, given the right combination of cool temperature and high pressure.
In the United States, where methane hydrate occurs beneath the permafrost
of Alaska's arctic north and below the seabed offshore, the volume of this
resource is staggering. The U.S.Geological Survey estimates that the Nation's
methane hydrate deposits could hold as much as 200,000 trillion cubic feet
(Tcf) of natural gas. This compares with a non-hydrate U.S. natural gas resource
of 25,000 Tcf-of which only 1,400 Tcf is deemed recoverable with current technology. If
just one percent of the hydrate resource in America were commercially developed,
it would more than double the Nation's proved gas reserves.
Apart from the vast energy potential of methane hydrate, there are some serious
safety and environmental concerns. The close proximity of hydrate deposits
to pre-historic landslides suggests the possibility of seafloor landslides
affecting oil and gas facilities and underscores the challenges inherent in
drilling and producing the hydrate resource itself. In addition, there
is concern that disruption of hydrate deposits could release methane, a powerful
greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere.
These concerns as well as DOE's goal of developing methane production from
hydrate, require that we better understand the spatial variation and physical
properties of hydrate-bearing sediments and refine our ability to predict their
location prior to drilling. The six projects selected in the latest round
of funding for hydrate research, managed by FE's National Energy Technology
Laboratory, will address these objectives.
The Energy Department will provide about $4.6 million of the six projects'
total combined costs of roughly $5.8 million. The selected projects are
described below:
- University of Texas, Austin, TX -This project seeks to quantify
how methane is distributed and transported within a hydrate resource
area. In concept, methane is transported when gas pressure
builds up until it fractures the sediment; water and gas then move
into the fracture, the gas drains into the sediment, and hydrate
forms at the gas/water interfaces. Researchers will model fracture
initiation and propagation as well as the geometry of gas/water interfaces,
coupling the two models to help simulate a mechanism for how gas
and hydrate coexist. The resulting model would be an important
step toward characterizing and predicting the behavior of active
vs. stable hydrate deposits, and it will help us better understand
the complex systems containing hydrate, water, free gas, and sediment. (DOE
award: $1.074 million; cost share: $268,746; project duration: 4
years)
- Baylor University, Waco, TX -In this project, researchers will
conduct field studies using a novel method for acquiring geophysical
data to characterize the volume of hydrate resources in-place within
a Gulf of Mexico seafloor deposit. The targeted site-the focus
of hydrate research since 2001-has both active and dormant gas seeps. It
is believed this gas has migrated from a sub-seafloor hydrate deposit,
but conventional geophysical survey methods have failed to confirm
the deposit. Oil and gas companies have long used the measurement
of resistivity-the ability of a material to resist conduction of
electricity-to ascertain the fluid content of subsurface rocks. Baylor
researchers will inject direct electrical current into the seafloor
to remotely measure sub-seafloor resistivity and discern hydrate
from other materials. If validated, the proposed method could
prove a valuable new tool for detecting and characterizing marine
hydrate. (DOE award: $271,966; cost share: $68,885; project
duration: 3 years)
- Rice University, Houston, TX -There is a great deal of variability
in the distribution of hydrate and hydrate-associated free gas among
methane hydrate systems. Such regional heterogeneity affects
all key aspects of methane hydrate research. This project seeks
to understand these regional differences from the perspective of
hydrate as an energy resource, a geohazard, and a long-term climate
influence. Researchers expect to generate data and models to
pinpoint causes of gas hydrate variance, build numerical models to
explain and predict regional-scale hydrate differences, simulate
methane production from various hydrate systems, assess the potential
impacts of hot fluids on seafloor and well stability, and develop
geophysical approaches that will enable an operator to remotely quantify
hydrate heterogeneity without having to drill a well. Rice
University will partner with the University of Houston on this project. (DOE
award : $895,147; cost share: $250,779; project duration: 3 years)
- Rock Solid Images, Houston, TX -Gathering reliable seismic data-the
capture and processing of acoustic energy signals bounced off of
subsurface formations-is key to understanding and ultimately developing
America's vast hydrate resource. Accurately characterizing
hydrate deposits with seismic data will also benefit environmental
researchers by providing data for climate models. In this project,
Rock Solid Images will use a novel approach to extract certain seismic
data attributes in thinly bedded individual hydrate reservoirs, which
typically are too thin for direct seismic detection. The approach
should enable a more accurate assessment of these thinly bedded reservoirs'
aggregated volumes in a thick column of sediments. (DOE award:
$959,189; cost share: $239,797; project duration: 2 years)
- North Slope Borough, Barrow, AK -This project seeks to characterize
and quantify the methane hydrate resource believed to exist in the
Barrow area of Alaska's North Slope. Results of previous DOE
research suggest that a significant hydrate resource may be associated
with three producing natural gas fields near Barrow, the North Slope
Borough's biggest population center and economic hub. Investigators
will use geoscience studies and modeling of temperature and pressure
conditions of hydrate occurrence to try to confirm and characterize
the Barrow hydrate deposit's association with the gas fields. If
hydrate occurrence in the gas fields is shown likely, future projects
could include the design and drilling of a dedicated hydrate well
in the area and, possibly, field testing to provide valuable insights
into the producibility of hydrate reservoirs. (DOE award: $631,788;
cost share: $130,535; project duration: 2 years)
- Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA -This project will
include a combination of modeling, experimental, and theoretical
work, with the overall goal of generating information that could
assist in developing a technically and economically viable means
for producing methane from hydrate-bearing sediments. To accomplish
this, Georgia Tech researchers will try to address shortcomings in
current hydrate research to gain a thorough understanding of the
physical phenomena underlying hydrate formation, stability, and dissolution;
explore existing production strategies and devise potential new recovery
methods; and develop mathematical models for assessing, designing,
and controlling production operations. (DOE award: $787,585;
cost share: $244,509; project duration: 4 years)
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Contact: David Anna, DOE/NETL, 412-386-4646 |
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