The Source - Winter 2008 - (Page 18)

feature Gas hydrates By Art Johnson Poised for the next phase If securing a vast new domestic gas resource is of value to APGA members, their support for a fully authorized federal gas hydrate program is critical. W ith recent sharp increases in natural gas prices and growing concerns about future supplies, interest in the resource potential of gas hydrate is increasing in the United States. The promise of gas hydrate as a significant natural gas resource has been widely reported for more than two decades, with its energy potential estimated to be as much as twice that of all other fossil fuels. Technical and economic hurdles have continually pushed back the timeline for commercial development, however gas hydrate could achieve commercialization in the United States within a decade or less if sufficient funding is available for productionscale testing in the next two years. Gas hydrate is a solid crystalline substance composed of water and natural gas that forms under conditions of moderately high pressure and moderately low temperature. These conditions occur along America’s continental margins in water depths greater than 1600 feet and beneath the permafrost on the North Slope of Alaska. Gas hydrate concentrates natural gas, with a cubic foot of hydrate yielding 164 to 170 cubic feet of natural gas when the hydrate decomposes. The two questions of greatest interest for APGA members are: how large of a resource gas hydrate can realistically be, and how soon could production from hydrate begin to reach U.S. markets? How large is the resource? The drilling programs conducted over the past 20 years have conclusively shown that hydrate will occur in sediments wherever the right conditions of pressure and temperature are present along with a supply of natural gas. These conditions are so wide-spread that the amount of gas hydrate in the world is truly enormous (figure 1, see page 20). Estimates of the total volume of gas contained in America’s gas hydrates are as large as 200,000 TCF. Most of the hydrate, however, occurs 18 THE SOURCE | THE VOICE AND CHOICE OF PUBLIC GAS

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Source - Winter 2008

The Source - Winter 2008 Contents First Person The Bridge to Renewable Energy Future Natural Gas: The Comfortable, Responsible Energy Solution Gas Hydrates: Poised for the Next Phase The Role of Natural Gas in a Carbon-Constrained World Natural Gas Prepays Taking the Leap to Natural Gas Vehicles The Pipeline Legislative Outlook Advertiser's Index Advertiser.com At Last

The Source - Winter 2008

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