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‘Very encouraging’ results from Mackenzie Delta hydrate project Team of scientists met all technical objectives, but won’t make detailed results public for two years; experts doubt hydrate production is possible for 30-50 years Gary Park PNA Canadian Correspondent
A seven-member international partnership trying to revolutionize future energy markets has reported “very encouraging” results from successful production testing of methane hydrates in the Canadian Arctic.
Natural Resources Canada, which led the 79-day, C$14 million experiment said the scientists involved believe the results are a “first step towards evaluating gas hydrates as an energy source.”
The federal government department said it will continue to assess the practical energy potential of hydrates through international collaboration on research, while pursuing strong linkages with Canadian industry, universities and other federal and territorial agencies.
More than 60 scientists and engineers were involved in the project at the Mallik gas hydrate field on the Mackenzie Delta, drilling three research wells through the permafrost to evaluate the potential and economic viability of hydrate production.
Other partners in the project were the Geological Survey of Canada, Japan National Oil Corp., the United States Geological Survey, the U.S. Department of Energy, the German government’s GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, the Gas Authority of India Ltd. and the Oil & Natural Gas Corporation of India Ltd., the International Continental Drilling Program and Canada’s gas industry. Japex Canada Ltd. was responsible for drilling operations. Canada at forefront Natural Resources Minister Herb Dhaliwal said the project “positions Canada at the forefront of natural gas hydrate research and the Canadian industry stands to benefit greatly from developing technologies to produce gas hydrates commercially.”
Scott Dallimore, a scientist with the Geological Survey of Canada, said the team drilled one production and research well and two observation wells.
In the process, it completed cross-well tomography surveys, a vertical seismic profiling survey, surface seismic studies and continuous coring from the top of the hydrate zone to beneath the free-gas interval. Hydrate intervals were on average between about 33 feet and 66 feet thick.
Dallimore said that for the first time anywhere in the world the team was able to production-test a hydrate well and examine the controls of pressure and temperature, but said the tests were not “industry-style, long-term flow tests.”
He said detailed results of the tests completed at Mallik will not be made public for two years. Long-term energy Described as coaxing fire from ice, the process of trying to bring hydrate fields under the coastal waters of every continent to full-scale production is seen by many as the key to long-term energy needs.
Estimates put the world’s hydrate reserves at more than twice the amount of energy found in all other known sources of fossil fuels — natural gas, oil. coal and oil sands.
Natural Resources Canada says hydrate reserves in Canada could be 32 times greater than conventional gas sources.
But because the bounty is locked in frozen deposits deep beneath ocean floors, it could take 30 to 50 years for hydrates to displace other gas supplies, said Tim Collett, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.
“It could also be world-class stuff,” he said. “The risks are extremely high, but the payoff is rich. I think the economics are very close.”
The U.S.G.S. said there could be 320,000 trillion cubic feet of hydrates beneath U.S. soil, said Collett.
Although “no one knows if it’s producible or not,” the possible benefits make the current research worthwhile, he said.
Marlan Downey, president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, cautioned against anyone thinking hydrates could provide the U.S. with an early alternative to dependence on foreign oil.
Among the challenges, apart from developing the technology to tap the deposits, is the concern that methanes are 20 times more damaging to the environment than greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide.
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