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1 Methane Hydrate Research in the United States
Pages 13-30

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From page 13...
... . The relatively clean environmental footprint for combustion, the potential for securing significant domestic supplies, and the compatibility with existing infrastructure indicate that natural gas can be a cornerstone of an environmentally and economically sound domestic energy portfolio.
From page 14...
... potential resulting from methane hydrate dissociation, whether through natural processes or through oil and gas drilling and production, is also important as its potential for commercial production is considered and tested. NATIoNAL APPRoACH To METHANE HyDRATE RESEARCH AND DEVELoPMENT The Department of Energy (DoE)
From page 15...
... Numbers adjacent to abbreviated site locality names identify project or drilling legs. GMGS = Guangzhou Marine Geological Survey; IODP = Integrated Ocean Drilling Program; JIP = joint industry project (Department of Energy Methane Hydrate Program supported)
From page 16...
... Although most of these hydrocarbons may remain at depth as "conventional" oil and natural gas accumulations, some of the gases, including methane, may also migrate to shallow depths and form methane hydrate if appropriate pressure and temperature conditions and sufficient free water exist. An important difference between methane hydrate deposits and those of "conven tional" gas accumulations is the nature of the sedimentary rocks within which the gas is found: conventional natural gas fields trap gas in porous sedimentary beds, surrounded by impermeable rocks; methane hydrate deposits occur in relatively unconsolidated sediments where the ice-like hydrate structure itself serves as the trap for individual gas molecules.
From page 17...
... . The water cages can trap gas molecules (not shown)
From page 18...
... disseminated within Figure Box 1.1 Middle.eps pore-space of sand deposits (from Mount Elbert, Alaska North Slope) , (right)
From page 19...
... . Although "gas hydrate" is the more general term that does not require differentiating whether the "guest" a molecules are methane, propane, carbon dioxide, or others, the term "methane hydrate" is adopted uni versally in the text to conform to the legislative language that authorized the National Methane Hydrate Research and Development Program in the United States (Appendix A)
From page 20...
... Public Law 109-58 specified that DoE establish a National Research Council (NRC) study to assess the progress made by the DoE Methane Hydrate Research and Development Program (hereafter referred to as "the Program")
From page 21...
... Suitability of methane hydrate resources to make a substantial contribution to domestic natural gas supply by 2025; b. Changes to the current program of R&D to meet the research needs identified above; c.
From page 22...
... Chapter 2 discusses the current state of methane hydrate research domestically and internationally through the description of recent, important experimental, theoretical, and field-based discoveries that have significantly advanced understanding of methane hydrate as well as some of the key remaining research challenges. Importantly, these discoveries and challenges have helped raise the level of research awareness given to methane hydrate from one of general scientific importance with respect to environmental and geohazard concerns to one of focused research interest in methane hydrate as a potentially viable energy resource.
From page 23...
... . In addition to serving a constructive, coordinating role regarding interagency methane hydrate research, the Program used relatively modest resources in these initial years to solicit proposals and provide partial support for three cooperative agreements with industry, one in the Gulf of Mexico (with Chevron in the management role)
From page 24...
... Key early, long-term goals included development of exploration and drilling techniques appropriate for methane hydrate, characterization of the physical and chemical properties of methane hydrate from drill cores, and understanding methane hydrate as a potential geohazard. These goals were necessary for both the projects and the Program to generate results that could eventually be applied by industry in a commercial production setting.
From page 25...
... Establishing a Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee (MHAC) , an Interagency Coordinating Committee, and selection and evaluation criteria for research proposals and projects were among the more encompassing of these organizational activities.
From page 26...
... the descriptions of the research and development priorities were more nuanced, with new emphasis on remote-sensing techniques, including acquisition and processing of seismic data, to identify and characterize methane hydrate accumulations; and (2) specific exploratory drilling goals included one or more full-scale production tests in permafrost and nonpermafrost areas.
From page 27...
... providing by 2015 an initial assessment of the scale of the potentially commercially viable gas hydrate resource on the Alaska North Slope, and (2) demonstrating the technical recoverability and assessing the economic recoverability of marine gas hydrate–bearing sand reservoirs by 2025.6 Simultaneously with these programmatic efforts, DoE increased the number and scope of its smaller-scale research projects, established two new cooperative-agreement projects with industry, and supported the continuation of the Gulf of Mexico joint industry project managed by Chevron and the cooperative agreement on the Alaska North Slope with BPXA into more intricate phases in their planned research (Appendix F)
From page 28...
... These challenges include developing the technology necessary to produce methane from this unconventional gas occurrence and understanding more about methane hydrate in terms of its potential to behave as a geohazard and how degassing of methane hydrate may affect the environment. Because most of the methane hydrate research presently conducted in the United States is supported by the DoE Program and its federal partners, this report is designed to give DoE, other agencies, and policy makers a framework in which to evaluate the goals of and to determine appropriate support for 
From page 29...
... 2008. Natural gas hydrates: Recent advances and challenges in energy and environmental applications.


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