The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has selected a multiyear, field-based research project designed to gain further insight into the nature, formation, occurrence and physical properties of methane hydrate‐bearing sediments for the purpose of methane hydrate resource appraisal, the DOE said in a news release.
The University of Texas at Austin, along with The Ohio State University, Columbia University-Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, the Consortium for Ocean Leadership and the U.S. Geological Survey, will characterize and prioritize known and prospective drilling locations with a high probability of encountering concentrated methane hydrates in sand-rich reservoirs, the release said.
A focused drilling program will acquire conventional cores, pressure cores, and downhole logs; will measure in situ properties; and will measure reservoir response to short-duration pressure perturbations. The field campaign will offer an ideal opportunity to deploy and test several coring and hydrate characterization tools developed through previous DOE-supported research efforts. Post-cruise analyses will determine the in situ concentrations, the physical properties, the lithology, and the thermodynamic state of methane hydrate bearing sand reservoirs, according to the release.
Since the passage of the Methane Hydrate Research and Development Act of 2000, the DOE has led a coordinated national methane hydrate R&D program in collaboration with six other federal agencies, universities, industry and international R&D programs. The DOE program mission is to advance the scientific understanding of naturally occurring methane hydrate so that its resource potential and environmental implications can be fully understood, the release said.
The objectives of the marine gas hydrate program are to:
- Collect a full suite of in situ measurements and core samples to characterize the physical properties of marine methane hydrates;
- Assess their potential response to possible production activities and
- Further delineate the occurrence and nature of gas hydrates in the U.S. outer continental shelf, the release said.
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