Methane hydrates

Methane locked in ice under the seafloor and permafrost; very large but barely tapped.

Natural sources · Fossil stores · No. 15

• Natural sources
• Origin: Fossil (ancient solar)
• Renewable: No

Ice that burns: methane hydrate crams about 164 times its own volume of gas into frozen cages under the seabed.

Chart: Illustration: Methane hydrates

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Under cold and pressure, water freezes into cages around methane, holding about 164 times its own volume of gas in seabed and permafrost sediments.

Three things to know

1. Only about 1% of hydrate is tied to Arctic permafrost, though those deposits are the easiest to test.
2. A 1995 US study put about 9,000 tcm of gas in US territory alone, more than today's global estimate of about 3,300 tcm.
3. India's NGHP-01 expedition drilled 21 sites, 15 of them in the Krishna-Godavari basin.

The journey

1. 1 Cold and pressureStable under seas deeper than 300-500 m
2. 2 Ice cagesWater molecules trap methane inside
3. 3 Test wellsShort trials off Japan and China
4. 4 GasBest run gave 28,700 m3 a day

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