China to invest US$100m in hydrate fuels

China plans to spend 800 million yuan (US$100 million) over the next decade on studying natural gas hydrates, an alternative fuel Beijing hopes might help to limit its growing reliance on oil imports, the government said this week.

Trial exploration of methane hydrate, a crystalline compound of water and natural gas, is expected to become viable between 2010 and 2015, the government planning agency said in a report on its Web site on Wednesday.

Methane hydrate reserves, found in abundance in ocean beds, are thought to be equivalent in energy value to at least twice the amount of fossil fuels needed to meet global energy demand for 1,000 years, the report said.

taipeitimes