Japan to Trial Frozen Gas Output in Pacific in 2012

Japan plans to start trial drilling in 2012 to extract frozen natural gas buried under the seabed and test if the methane hydrate is a viable next-generation fuel.

The government will lead test production of the frozen methane in an ocean trench called the Nankai Trough about 30 miles (50 kilometers) off the coast of the country’s main Honshu Island, according to a document distributed at a trade ministry panel meeting in Tokyo today. Japan will extend by 2 years a 16- year frozen methane project started in 2001 to find out if the fuel is suitable for commercial production.
Methane hydrate, gas trapped in frozen water buried in sediment some 3,000 feet under the ocean floor, may help Japan win energy independence from the Middle East and Indonesia. Japan last year confirmed offshore fields in its waters in the Pacific hold an estimated 40 trillion cubic feet of the gas, equivalent to the country’s demand for about 14 years.

Bloomberg