Toward Production From Gas Hydrates: Current Status, Assessment of Resources, and Simulation-Based Evaluation of Technology and Potential

Toward Production From Gas Hydrates: Current Status, Assessment of Resources, and Simulation-Based Evaluation of Technology and Potential George J. Moridis, SPE, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Timothy S. Collett, SPE, US Geological Survey; Ray Boswell, US Department of Energy; M. Kurihara, SPE, Japan Oil Engineering Company; Matthew T. Reagan, SPE, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Carolyn Koh and E. Dendy Sloan, SPE, Colorado School of Mines This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2008 SPE Unconventional Reservoirs Conference held in Keystone, Colorado, U.S.A., 10–12 February 2008. Abstract Gas hydrates are a vast energy resource with global distribution in the permafrost and in the oceans. Even if conservative estimates are considered and only a small fraction is recoverable, the sheer size of the resource is so large that it demands evaluation as a potential energy source. In this review paper, we discuss the distribution of natural gas hydrate accumulations, the status of the primary international RD Klauda and Sandler, 2005). Given the sheer magnitude of the resource, ever increasing global energy demand, and the finite volume of conventional fossil fuel reserves, gas hydrates are emerging as a potential energy source for a growing number of nations. The attractive- ness of gas hydrates is further enhanced by the environmental desirability of natural gas (as opposed to solid or liquid) fuels. Thus, the appeal of gas hydrate accumulations as future hydrocarbon gas sources is rapidly increasing and their production potential clearly demands technical and economic evaluation. The past decade has seen a marked acceleration in gas hydrate RD Paull et al., 2005), reservoir lithology, and rates and

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