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Page added on May 10, 2015
Could ‘ice that burns’ be the next step in natural gas?
The next big thing in natural gas production may come from the enormous amount of gas trapped in ice found both in the ground and under the sea.
The U.S. Geological Survey says it is sometimes referred to as the “ice that burns,” because when lit by a flame the icy chunks of “methane hydrates” will ignite.
Methane hydrates are formed when natural gas rises from the seabed and combines with water to form ice in the ocean and on land in the Arctic.
Most oil and gas drillers have traditionally seen hydrates as a nuisance for deepwater drillers in Alaska and elsewhere, where they can clog pipes used in extraction.
However, oil companies such as ConocoPhillips in recent years have been working to harvest the potential of methane hydrates, looking at them as a resource for natural gas production rather than an impediment.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, chairwoman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is a huge proponent of the resource and is seeking to restore funding for research and other programs that will speed commercialization of the technology needed to harvest hydrates.
The Alaska Republican is a fan of hydrates, simply put, because “we have a lot of them” in the state, said the energy chief’s spokesman, Robert Dillon. He explains that the resource is enormous, offering a huge new resource, not only domestically, but around the globe.
“The United States has 85 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of known methane hydrate reserves onshore Alaska, and 13,000 Tcf offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean,” according to the energy committee.
In context, shale reserves are 2,515 Tcf, according to a recent report released by the Potential Gas Committee. The measure is a 50-year high that would provide enough natural gas to supply the nation into the next century.
Globally, hydrate reserves could be as much as 8 million trillion cubic meters, according to the Geological Survey.
A spokesman for the Energy Information Administration, referring to work done by the Geological Survey and the energy committee, agrees it is a huge number, but it has to be taken in light of what can be feasibly recovered. He said the Energy Department’s statistics arm has not done much on hydrates for years, with the Geological Survey taking the lead on estimating reserves. The Geological Survey says methane hydrates are hard to recover because they’re in solid form. Commercialization is most likely decades away.
Dillon says Alaska has worked with ConocoPhillips to set aside segments of land for research projects. In the middle of the last decade, the Department of Energy and ConocoPhillips established a joint development project to begin tapping hydrates under Alaska’s permafrost and tundra.
Dillon says the project also included Japan, which sees hydrates as a potential win for the country if it can develop the technology necessary to extract it from the seabed. Dillon says Alaska has a lot of hydrate potential onshore, but other countries will find it in the oceans.
A committee staffer says it’s a matter of economics and that hydrate extraction from the sea could eventually be easier, with fewer risks than offshore drilling.
Japan wants to develop the resource because it has little in the way of natural resources to tap on land, Dillon said. Methane hydrates could provide Japan with a nearly unlimited source of energy.
Nevertheless, Murkowski is concerned that in the decades to come, the work the U.S. has done to advance development could place Japan in the driver’s seat to commercialize it first. Dillon explained that hydrate research at the energy Department has been targeted for cuts by the Obama administration, a major concern for the senator.
“We are close to a breakthrough,” Dillon said. “We’ve done good work” in Alaska, with the Energy Department and the industry, “and don’t want to cede it to Japan” by sustaining long-term cuts in research.
“We disagree [with the administration] and think hydrates are a great potential for the future,” especially for the U.S. and Asia, he said.
Murkowski announced new legislation on Thursday to bolster research and development on methane hydrates, which is expected to be included in a comprehensive energy bill she wants to pass by the end of the year.
The energy committee says hydrate research has lacked full authorization since 2010. The bill reauthorizes that research while updating the program in line with recommendations made by the Department of Energy’s Methane Hydrate Advisory Committee. The committee urged the agency to speed up its efforts to commercialize the resource.
Updating the methane program will be the subject of discussion at a May 19 hearing in the committee with a slew of other energy bills meant to address the nation’s energy supply.
A Geological Survey study posted May 6 shows an enormous number for methane hydrates from its most recent estimates.
The USGS also says methane hydrates are more dense than other forms of natural gas, offering several times the density of methane per square foot of hydrate. That means a vast bounty for those who could harvest it for energy, but it also poses threats for global warming since methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases.
Many scientists say greenhouse gas emissions are causing the Earth’s climate to warm at a much faster rate.
10 Comments on "Could ‘ice that burns’ be the next step in natural gas?"
rockman on Sun, 10th May 2015 6:09 pm
Just a touch of reality to emphasize the HUGE problem with harvesting this fossil fuel. Most important: the hydrates ARE NOT FROZEN METHANE. They are ice molecules that contain a relatively small percentage of methane it the CRYSTAL STRUCTURE OF THE ICE. IOW to free the methane one must melt the ice. Now imagine if one had to dissolve the Eagle Ford Shale rock in order to release that methane. IOW one would have to create a huge void in the subsurface. In essence it would be the equivalent of mining the deposit…far different then poking a hole in it to allow the methane to flow to the surface. One would have to move the entire solid deposit out of the ground and destabilize the predominantly ice deposit to release the methane. The physical facts:
The nominal methane clathrate hydrate composition is (CH4)4(H2O)23, or 1 mole of methane for every 5.75 moles of water, corresponding to 13.4% methane by weight, although the actual composition is dependent on how many methane molecules fit into the various cage structures of the water lattice. The observed density is around 0.9 g/cm3, which means that methane hydrate will float to the surface of the sea or of a lake unless it is bound in place by being formed in or anchored to sediment. One litre of fully saturated methane clathrate solid would therefore contain about 120 grams of methane.
Methane forms a structure I hydrate with two dodecahedral (12 vertices, thus 12 water molecules) and six tetradecahedral (14 water molecules) water cages per unit cell. Because of sharing of water molecules between cages, there are only 46 water molecules per unit cell.
shortonoil on Sun, 10th May 2015 6:16 pm
Woods Hole puts the world’s Continental shelf hydrate resource at 4,000 trillion tons. Enough to power the world for 1,000 years. Sounds good so far, but they are so unstable that a 1/2 degree change in temperature can start them decomposing. At 300 to 1000 feet under the ocean they are literally a bomb of unparallelled power. Methane blurbs caused by undersea landslides are suspected in extinction events (see the “Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes”). Oil drilling rigs have been blown out of the water when they unintentionally drilled though deposits. The Japanese have spent $100 of millions to tap into them with absolutely no success. They are the energy source of the future, and always will be.
Apneaman on Mon, 11th May 2015 1:04 am
Not just the Japanese. Many other government-industry projects have dumped money down that hole for at least 30 years. The scientists doing the work on Arctic methane and a possible burp are not saying it will happen 100% for sure, just that it is possible. A 1 GT release is enough to ruin everything.
//////////////////////////////////////////
The potential for methane releases in the Arctic to cause runaway global warming
What are the chances of abrupt releases of, say, 1 Gt of methane in the Arctic? What would be the impact of such a release?
http://arctic-news.blogspot.ca/p/potential-for-methane-release.html
Davy on Mon, 11th May 2015 7:48 am
It is appearing more and more to me that the methane card is going to be the key variable to a runaway climate at least in the short term. We can solve AGW climate change. We can rapidly reduce population to the 1BIL range with a corresponding consumption reduction to 19century levels. Problem solved.
The reason this is not done is because most of us reading this comment will not survive. Many reading this comment and seriously concerned with AGW climate change are under the delusional BAUtopian spell. You folks believe in a green BAU complete with the comforts of a complex and energy intensive lifestyle. Some of you cats don’t see a large population that big of an issue. You guys think education and more technology will green up this vast third world mega cities. You guys also believe in a new green physics that we can have BAU complexity with AltE and smart economies. Less energy intensity is made up for with smart.
Then there is the plain old run of the mill traditional BAUpeople that could give a shit. If the lights turn on, frig is stocked, and gas at the pump then all is well. It does not matter how that happens just so it happens. This people many times work hard and play hard. The work they do is mindless and repetitious. The play they do is mindless. Have you ever watched a nascar race? What about having one’s hobby revolve around energy intensity. So many people invest their lives in a hobbies that revolves around high energy intensity for some obscure enjoyment. This in addition to an already energy intensive lifestyle of BAU. This kind of behavior was fine a few years ago before we knew about PO, AGW, overconsumption, and overpopulation. Now every single one of these activities has to end and quickly to make a difference. Ending such activities ends BAU by a knock on effect. Leisure and recreation for example are essential components of BAU economies of scale.
We then have the Brownies and the 1%ers. These people live a life at the edges of consumption. They are industrialist, business people, and or just plain wealthy. These people are generally educated and understand enough about how their lifestyles contribute carbon. Since the prescription for fixing climate change means the end of their lifestyles they either feel it is someone else’s problem or deny AGW. I have heard many say it is natural climate variability. Many are older and believe it is the future generation’s problem the worst will hit after they are dead. IOW they are bought into a lifestyle and unwilling to change. Since these people are in charge no change will occur.
We then have governments that have no clue how to make changes and no ability to make those changes even if they had a clue. The changes needed to begin to even make a difference with climate change are draconian especially considering how quickly this must happen. There is no BAU possible and a healthy climate. Governments are committed to growth at all cost because there will not be a government as we know it without growth. Growth means runaway AGW climate change. That is a catch 22 that cannot be changed.
Now that you have read the morning Davy doom salad rant we can now admit there is no hope of ending climate change. That was Davy sarc but probably true. We don’t know enough to know when, how, and how bad. What we can do is accept we are powerless to curb consumption and population. We will have to let nature do her work and we will have to learn how to mitigate and adapt to these effects. IOW we will have to learn to adapt to collapse of both population and consumption with a generational drop in both at a minimum. The maximum is a short 10-20 years of pure hell on wheels and hopefully some kind of landing with some kind of civilization.
Ant then there is the And/Or. We can know in the back of our mind the SHIT and just fiddle while Rome burns. C’est la vie. Gather the rosebuds while ye may. Live large and love life while you can. So, Ape Man, if you read this Davy doom salad rant this far what can we do? Do you want lots of people to die now or later? There is nothing we can do but mitigate and adjust to a collapse from PO, AGW, and 15 other predicaments. I love your posts but I would just like to know if you think there is anything to do? If so does it mean billions die now or later? You must also realize that our likely deaths are a part of this.
penury on Mon, 11th May 2015 9:59 am
Being human means that we as a group will try to mine methane and will find out the results later. The drive to destroy all life on the planet is strong in humans, as is the hubris which allows us to believe that we are intelligent enough to control any negative reactions which occur, Fukishima was just a flesh wound. nothing to see here, move along.
BobInget on Mon, 11th May 2015 12:27 pm
Warmer oceans are melting hydrates before we perfect mining them.
This Natural Geo article from 2013;
http://news. national geographic.com/news/energy/2013/03/pictures/130328-methane-hydrates-for-energy/
One can’t help making the comparison with
mining bitumen. Oil or tar sands extraction
continues to evolve years after Sunoco
pioneered the process in late 1960’s.
It was said then, it’s still being repeated ,
‘oil sands will never be profitable’.Tell that
to Sunoco, I’m sure it would please them to hear that.
Davy on Mon, 11th May 2015 12:38 pm
Bobby, tell me oil sands are affordable enough to substitute for conventional oil. Bobby, tell me high quality high Eroi crude is not in hopeless depletion. Bobby tell me society can easily substitute oil sands production for the depleting high quality crude and keep the growth cycle going.
I just want to know everything is ok. When I go to turn on them lights they go on, when I see my frig it is full of delicious foods and drinks, and when I drive to town the pump is ready to fill my tank. Bobby, tell me oil sands will make everything alright.
Bob Owens on Mon, 11th May 2015 2:23 pm
Davy, Everything will be alright, everyone will have food, as soon as we learn to kill squirrels with slingshots. We can cook them up with any roadkill we find.
Davy on Mon, 11th May 2015 6:26 pm
Bob, how are we goin to have road kill without cars?
GregT on Mon, 11th May 2015 9:48 pm
Bicycles Davy, and clubs.