Natural Gas Hydrate as a Potential Energy Resource

Abstract

The estimated amount of gas in the hydrate accumulations of the world greatly exceeds the volume of known conventional gas reserves. However, the role that gas hydrate will play in contributing to the world’s energy requirements will depend ultimately on the availability of sufficient gas hydrate resources and the “cost” to extract them. Yet considerable uncertainty and disagreement prevails concerning the world’s gas hydrate resources. Disagreements over fundamental issues such as volume of gas stored within delineated gas hydrate accumulations and the concentration of gas hydrate within hydrate-bearing reservoirs have demonstrated that we know very little about gas hydrate.