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Page added on January 15, 2012
Seabed gas find blows all other energy sources out the water
A SCIENTIFIC discovery may have more than doubled the world’s energy reserves.
Scientists have found vast amounts of natural gas frozen into the seabed, potentially containing more energy than all the world’s known coal, oil and gas reserves combined.
The methane gas is mixed with water, and frozen solid by the high pressure and low temperatures in the deep sea.
Methane hydrate, as the substance is known, has long been regarded by oil and gas companies as a nuisance because it can block marine drilling rigs.
Now a study by Statoil, Norway’s state oil firm and a leading global gas producer, suggests it should be reclassified as a major fuel resource, with enough buried in the oceans to power the world for decades or even centuries.
“The energy content of methane occurring in hydrate form is immense, possibly exceeding the combined energy content of all other known fossil fuels,” said Espen Andersen, Statoil’s exploration manager in unconventional hydrocarbons, who will present his study at an energy conference next week.
Such claims will anger environmentalists, who fear global exploitation of the deep seabed would put marine life at risk, especially whales and dolphins, which are sensitive to noise. It would also mean an increase in the burning of fossil fuel.
The research follows the growing excitement generated by Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation, which has been drilling test wells into methane hydrate reserves in the Nankai trough, off Japan’s southwest coast.
It predicts the first gas will be extracted this year and suggests there could be enough methane hydrate in the trough to supply all Japan’s energy for 300 years.
Such discoveries have sparked a global search to find other areas with high concentrations of methane hydrate, with Statoil one of the leading companies involved.
Huge reserves are already believed to lie off China, South Korea and India, countries that are all reliant on imports, much of them from Australia.
16 Comments on "Seabed gas find blows all other energy sources out the water"
george on Sun, 15th Jan 2012 10:56 pm
so much horse manure , so little time
dsula on Sun, 15th Jan 2012 10:57 pm
First came peak oil, then came shale gas, now comes this seabed gas. And all the while I’m waiting for the peak-oil effects to finally arrive.
VP on Sun, 15th Jan 2012 11:06 pm
To dsula: check the prices at your local gas pump.
Terry Stuart on Sun, 15th Jan 2012 11:12 pm
There have been a number of studies done on methane hydrate and more then several novels that have postulated the energy release of this gas for evil. The united States has large deposits off the East Coast, CA, Alaska with several off the East Cost purpotedly being huge,one the size of Rhode Island.
Pacman on Sun, 15th Jan 2012 11:18 pm
If peak oil is the point after which ‘low hanging fruit’ can no longer be found I guess seabed gas is very low hanging … Maybe just a bit too low though
Ken nohe on Mon, 16th Jan 2012 12:31 am
This reminds me of nodule mining in the 1970s. 40 years later, they are still sleeping on the sea floor 5,000 meters below the waves; the cost of taking them to the surface was more than the metal contents. Methane hydrates are the corn biofuels of the ocean, but without the farmers to subsidize; it takes more energy to extract this than is available after the operation. There is a lot of it, no doubt but it will keep clogging pipelines for the time being. No light at the end of that tunnel.
fiedag on Mon, 16th Jan 2012 1:05 am
More on this at theoildrum
BillT on Mon, 16th Jan 2012 1:17 am
I suspect that Mother Nature is going to beat them to the punch and release all of it at once into the atmosphere when the oceans warm a bit more. It is already happening to the tundra and some areas of the Arctic. When that happens…game over for humans.
Harquebus on Mon, 16th Jan 2012 2:31 am
If the oceans continue to warm, methane hydrate will bubble naturally to the surface. If the oceans continue to warm they will become anaerobic and produce mass extinctions. The organic material that settles to the bottom will not decay and will in another 50 million years or so, be a fossil fuel source for whatever it is that takes our place.
BillT on Mon, 16th Jan 2012 7:26 am
Harquebus, it is already happening…
“…”Methane release from the East Siberian Shelf is underway and it looks stronger than it was supposed [to be],” he said…”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8437703.stm
HometownHiker on Mon, 16th Jan 2012 7:48 am
Thank God, now I can go buy that big SUV that I’ve been coveting!
kiwichick on Mon, 16th Jan 2012 8:17 am
the australian; almost as stupid as fox lies
J.J.H. on Mon, 16th Jan 2012 9:44 am
Old news…. Japan is testing ways to mine this gas… it’s very dangerous. One mistake and all the gas escapes into the air. We all know what methane does.
Kenjamkov on Mon, 16th Jan 2012 7:11 pm
Double the energy supply and you still only have another 35-40 years tacked on at about 2% growth. Putting aside the global climate change from all that CO2 when we use twice as much energy than before… Even if we didn’t kill ourselves getting it, is risking the lives of the planet worth another few decades of business as usual? The collapse would be a lot worse in 50-60 years if we continue growth now.
DC on Mon, 16th Jan 2012 8:57 pm
And how much declineing fossil-fuel will we use to get at all that magical sea-bed gas.Quite a bit I suspect Any attempt to do that will result in a disaster to make the tar-sands look like spilled milk. Think, the Tar-Sands of the Sea X100. And whats with the bolding the word scientific, whats that all about. Trying to imply that mineing sea-bed gas is ‘scientific’ and therefore the rational and logical thing to do?
Jonathan on Wed, 18th Jan 2012 8:42 pm
How nice to read such fantastically good news for a change.