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DOE funding for methane hydrate research Agency looking to share the cost of projects aimed at field tests in Arctic Alaska and the sampling of subsea deposits on the OCS Alan Bailey Petroleum News
The U.S. Department of Energy, or DOE, has announced a government funding opportunity for methane hydrate research. The agency is inviting applications for projects in two areas: methane hydrate field testing in Alaska, and the characterization of naturally occurring methane hydrate on the U.S. outer continental shelf.
Methane hydrate is a naturally occurring ice-like material that concentrates methane, the primary component of natural gas, in a lattice of water molecules within a specific range of relatively low temperatures and high pressures. In certain situations methane hydrate deposits could become a prolific source of natural gas for use as a fuel, if viable ways of producing gas from the hydrates can be developed.
DOE says that total federal funds of up to $20 million may be available over financial years 2014 and 2015, with individual projects having values of up to $80 million — the government funding will be contingent on applicants sharing the costs of the projects. The agency says that it anticipates making one to four funding awards, depending on the sizes of the individual awards.
North Slope There are known, extensive deposits of methane hydrate around the base of the permafrost under Alaska’s North Slope. Some significant research has already been carried out into the nature of these deposits and two methane hydrate test wells have been drilled. In April 2013 the state signed a memorandum of understanding with DOE for collaboration in research into Alaska’s unconventional fossil energy resources, including methane hydrates.
DOE says that its new funding opportunity for Alaska research is intended to target projects that will evaluate the occurrence and nature of Arctic methane hydrate deposits and the response of the material to extended-duration destabilization through depressurization and other techniques. Particular preference will be given to projects that use some North Slope land tracts that the State of Alaska earmarked in 2013 for methane hydrate field testing.
The concept behind the outer continental shelf research is the collection of samples from sub-sea methane-hydrate-bearing sediments within high potential areas that have recently been identified by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, DOE says.
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