Charting the Future of Methane Hydrate Research in the United States (2004) / Chapter Skim
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4 Directions for Program Emphasis, Research, and Resource Development
4 Directions for Program Emphasis, Research, and Resource Development
Pages 73-82
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From page 73... ...
It is clear that gas hydrate distribution in nature is very heterogeneous. Better models for the temporal evolution of natural gas hydrate systems and remote sensing techniques that can identify and quantify concentrated gas hydrate deposits must be developed.
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From page 74... ...
. Specifically, the research areas are: · future field experiments, drilling, and production testing with consideration of testing offshore hydrate that might be con sidered to be of sufficiently large quantity to be potentially commercial; · hydrate deposit identification and characterization; · reservoir modeling; · technology recovery methods and production; · understanding the natural system and climate change potential; · geological hazards; and · transportation and storage.
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From page 75... ...
Future research should build on and continue to emphasize successes resulting from international cooperation. Hydrate Deposit Identification Before production can commence, it is necessary to select optimal test sites that will not only demonstrate feasible production but also provide for the broadest application of results for future drill sites and optimal production.
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From page 76... ...
The DOE Methane Hydrate R&D Program should therefore sponsor a workshop focused on specific aspects of required research, for example, finding sweet spots or monitoring the evolution of gas hydrate deposits over time in the context of the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI)
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From page 77... ...
Reservoir Modeling Before sustainable economic production of gas hydrate can commence, a realistic model-based estimate is required to optimize safe and efficient production procedures, determine suitable layout and design of production wells, and ultimately predict the expected rate of reservoir production. Accurate hydrate reservoir models, tested against field experience, provide an extremely cost-effective alternative to field experiments in economic assessment of hydrated energy production techniques.
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From page 78... ...
Important issues that require vigorous investigation include the following: · determining what factors and mechanisms control hydrate for mation and dissociation in nature and the rates of those processes; · determining the extent of natural hydrate deposits, how dynamic they are, and how estimates of the global inventory of natural hydrate can be refined; · ascertaining how the dissociation of hydrate influences the atmospheric inventory of methane in the short term and climate in the long term and what the climate system response will be to chronic as well as episodic methane releases from dissociating hydrate, as well as, developing methods to evaluate the magnitude of episodic releases and determining the climate impacts of these responses; · establishing the role of microbial processes in controlling methane released by hydrate dissociation and determining whether the "oxidizing gauntlet" is effective in limiting releases of methane to the atmosphere; · developing techniques and instruments for continuous monitoring of releases of methane from both natural deposits and hydrate deposits under development -- both diffusive and advective environments have to be studied; these efforts should emphasize development of new technologies such as continuous acoustic sounding, electronic monitoring, deployment of sensitive ther
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From page 79... ...
The DOE Methane Hydrate R&D Program should sponsor a workshop focused on specific aspects of required research -- for example, finding sweet spots or monitoring the evolution of gas hydrate deposits over time in the context of the OOI. Geological Hazards Geological hazards associated with gas hydrate relate on a fundamental level to the reduction of soil strength incurred as a result of gas hydrate dissociation and the fate and effect of the free gas produced (Kennett et
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From page 80... ...
Finally, the geohazard risk posed by gas hydrate must be considered carefully when hydrocarbon exploration or production facilities, either conventional or hydrate specific, penetrate gas hydrate and have the potential to induce coincident gas flows, casing strain, or ground surface settlements. The DOE Methane Hydrate R&D Program has undertaken valued work in this field -- for example, in the Gulf of Mexico research is expected to provide a better understanding of the safety hazards involved in drilling and producing oil and gas through hydrate-containing sediments in the deep water.
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From page 81... ...
· Future field experiments, drilling, and production testing, with consideration of testing offshore hydrate that might be considered to be of sufficiently large quantity to be poten tially commercial · Hydrate deposit identification and characterization · Reservoir modeling · Technology recovery methods and production · Understanding the natural system and climate change potential · Geological hazards · Transportation and storage Collaboration between the DOE Methane Hydrate R&D Program and other agencies, to augment infrastructure, will facilitate the achievement of program goals. For example, collaboration with NSF, especially with the OOI and ORION, would be useful to implement studies geared toward understanding the temporal evolution of gas hydrate systems using long-term observatories on and beneath the seafloor (http:www.coreocean.org/orion; NRC, 2003)
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