[TheDude]

If ever there were a Pandora's Box of energy it's clathrates. Nuclear power safety issues make me feel quite snug in comparison. And nature is going to foist methane on us in any case, too.

Jean Laherrère wrote a piece for TOD calling into question the reserves estimates for hydrates, too. Doubt with the heat turned up it will save our bacon, though.

[dohboi]

I'll ditto the Dude (generally a safe thing to do).

Poking around in this hornets nest is likely to be the fastest way to send the earth into climate armageddon. It is quite unstable, especially on slopes, and mucking around in it is likely to cause landslides that will send off huge plumes of methane. This has been talked about at length in threads on the environmental forum.

I love it when they say things like "with existing technology" nicely leaving how whether said technology can be practically applied. We have the "existing technology" to make sheets of plastic, so presumably we could cover all the swamps in the world with plastic and collect "swamp gas" (old term for methane).

Multiply the complexity and impracticability by some hundred fold and you get an idea how easily we could capture methane hydrates with "existing technology."

[edit: By the way, I like the irony of the fact that it was the "Anti-doomer" who brought us this gem, and idea that would most rapidly doom complex life on earth to the dustbin of extinction.]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('anador', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilFinder2', 'I') think this is the crux of these Alaskan deposits:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')“For more than 25 years, the USGS has conducted gas hydrate research in northern Alaska, showing the investment of our agency in understanding this resource,” said USGS Director Mark Myers. “This is especially important now that a growing body of evidence indicates that concentrated gas hydrate accumulations in conventional hydrocarbon reservoirs, such as those in northern Alaska, can be produced with existing technology.”

Among the various techniques for production of natural gas from gas hydrates, depressurization appears to be the most promising method. This involves changing the pressure of the hydrate accumulation, which changes the resource from a solid state into components of gas and water that can be produced to the surface. Depressurization was the only production technique assessed in this estimate.

[copious.abundance]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 't')hen it is regular gas recovery. How are we to know that regular gas deposits do not appear the same or similar under pressure under the ground?

[Tanada]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('OilFinder2', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 't')hen it is regular gas recovery. How are we to know that regular gas deposits do not appear the same or similar under pressure under the ground?

[Blacksmith]

Well I am a geologist, a registered professional geologist, and all this nonsence about mining Clathrate hydrates comes from government geologists who at best are academics with no or little commercial experience.

[copious.abundance]

This should answer many questions about those North Slope methane hydrates:
http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=75013

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'O')n the other hand common sense and the advice of a practicing geologist (see above. no OF2, right there over your post ) suggests that this flaky powdery material that coats rock surfaces and evaporates at surface pressure will not be used soon.

[copious.abundance]

BTW, not only does it look like they've got practicing geologists working on this. it looks like they've already extracted some of it:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'B')P's hydrate test project has been underway since 2002 in collaboration with the DOE. The goal is a long-term hydrate production test. The company drilled a well in the Milne Point field in 2007 to confirm results of its seismic profiling and to extract cores, or samples of rock containing methane hydrates. The project was successful on both counts: Drilling showed the hydrate was right where it was supposed to be, Pospisil said, and 100 feet of hydrate core was extracted. The test also showed the reservoir rock to contain higher saturation of hydrate than expected.

In a second phase of the project, BP will drill a second well and conduct a long-term production test that could last between three and 18 months, Pospifil said. Locations for the well are still being considered. It could be in the Milne Point, Kuparuk River fields or the western part of the Prudhoe Bay field, he said.

[shortonsense]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Blacksmith', 'W')ell I am a geologist, a registered professional geologist, and all this nonsence about mining Clathrate hydrates comes from government geologists who at best are academics with no or little commercial experience.

[copious.abundance]

Not your ordinary gas hydrates either.

>>> Reuters <<<
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]U.S. Gulf gas hydrate find most promising yet -DOE
Thu May 14, 2009 7:23pm EDT

HOUSTON, May 14 (Reuters) - A U.S. research team has found the most promising natural gas hydrate deposits yet under the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, improving chances the ice-like formations will become a major energy source, scientists said on Thursday.

"It's very encouraging. We consider this expedition a major shift in our understanding," said Timothy Collett of the U.S. Geological Survey, a leader of the research effort.

"What's unique about the Gulf of Mexico accumulations identified is this. It's the first time we've seen highly concentrated hydrates in conventional sand reservoirs that could be commercially producible," Collett said.

[...]

[AirlinePilot]

Hee hee, too easy...

"Most promising"

"improving the chances"

"very encouraging"

"could be commercially producible."

Once again you've published a story based on nothing more than wishing and hoping. Its a science project, and will be for a very long time.

[eastbay]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'A')P you are wrong. Methane hydrates are much better than dilithium crystals.

[copious.abundance]

"PO. Peak Optimism. When installed, natural gas is more than sufficient to maintain installed natural gas. Plus some oil, hydropower, solar, wind, coal and nuclear thrown in for good measure."

[copious.abundance]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AirlinePilot', 'H')ee hee, too easy...

"Most promising"

"improving the chances"

"very encouraging"

"could be commercially producible."

Once again you've published a story based on nothing more than wishing and hoping. Its a science project, and will be for a very long time.