The Development Path for Hydrate Natural Gas

Arthur H. Johnson and Michael D. Max
Hydrate Energy International, Kenner, LA

Many nations with energy deficiencies are actively pursuing the vast resource potential attributed to gas hydrate. Yet this potential has persistently remained just over the horizon. In fact, considerable progress has been made in the past five years that address the technical and economic hurdles that have pushed back the timeline for development. An important lesson learned is that an analysis of the factors that control the formation of high grade hydrate deposits must be carried out so that both exploration and recovery scenarios can be modeled and engineered.

Commercial hydrate development requires high concentrations of hydrate in porous, permeable reservoirs. It is only from such deposits that gas may be recovered in commercial quantities. While it is unrealistic to consider the global resource potential of gas hydrate to be in the hundreds of thousands of tcfs, there is a strong potential in the hundreds of tcfs or thousands of tcfs.

Press releases from several National gas hydrate research programs have reported gas hydrate “discoveries”. These are, in fact, hydrate shows that provide proof of the presence of hydrate where it may previously only have been predicted. Except in a few specific areas such as the Nankai deposits off central SE Japan, valid resource assessments remain to be accomplished through the identification of suitable hosts for hydrate concentrations such as sandstone reservoirs. A more focused exploration effort is needed that addresses hydrate as part of a petroleum system, rather than simply drilling bottom simulating reflectors (BSRs). It is very likely that with properly targeted drilling on properly identified targets, commercial development could become a reality in less than a decade.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas