Gas Hydrates in Northern Alaska
Assessment of Gas Hydrate Resources on the North Slope, Alaska, 2008
In 2008 USGS completed the first assessment of the undiscovered technically recoverable gashydrate resources on the North Slope of Alaska. Using a geologybased assessment methodology, the USGS estimates that there are about 85 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of undiscovered, technically recoverable gas resources within gas hydrates in northern Alaska.
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Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrates
Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrate Joint Industry Project Leg II
On May 6, 2009 a government and industry consortium, lead by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Minerals Management Service (MMS) and a group of U.S. and international energy industry companies under the management of Chevron completed the first ever drilling project with the expressed goal to collect geologic data on gas-hydrate-bearing sand reservoirs in the Gulf of Mexico.
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The Mallik Research Consortium
The Mallik Research Consortium drilled three test wells in Canada’s Mackenzie Delta, and the results of this cooperative effort, demonstrating the producibility of this energy resource, were published in 2005. Results Publication: GSC Bulletin 585...
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Indian National Gas Hydrate Program
Results of the Indian National Gas Hydrate Program (NGHP) Expedition 01
In 2008 an international partnership led by the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH) under the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (Government of India) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) released the results of the most complex and comprehensive gas hydrate field venture yet conducted.
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Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 311
In 2005 a transect of four sites (U1325, U1326, U1327, and U1329) across the northern Cascadia margin was established during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 311 to study the occurrences and formation of gas hydrate in accretionary complexes. In addition to the transect of sites, a fifth site (U1328) was established at a cold vent with active fluid and gas flow.
The four transect sites represent different stages in the evolution of gas hydrate across the margin from the earliest occurrence on the westernmost first accreted ridge (Site U1326) to its final stage at the eastward limit of gas hydrate occurrence on the margin in shallower water (Site U1329).
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Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Drill Site
Mount Elbert Gas Hydrate Stratigraphic Test Well
Two of the most studied permafrost-associated gas hydrate accumulations are those at the Mallik site in the Mackenzie River Delta of Canada and the Eileen gas hydrate accumulation on the North Slope of Alaska. The science program in support of the DOE and BP sponsored Mount Elbert gas hydrate test well project in northern Alaska generated one of the most comprehensive data sets on an Arctic gas hydrate accumulation along with critical gas hydrate reservoir engineering data.
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Korean National Gas Hydrate Program, Second Ulleung Basin Gas Hydrate Drilling Expedition (UBGH2)
South Korea has established a strong national gas hydrate program organized under the Korean Gas Hydrate Research and Development Organization (GHDO-K). The USGS maintains a close cooperative research relationship with GHDO-K, who in 2008 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with USDOE to collaborate on gas hydrate energy resource research. In the summer of 2010, USGS scientists participated in an Ulleung Basin gas hydrate drilling expedition off the east coast of Korea (85 day drilling, coring, and logging expedition).
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