|
State and DOE plan gas hydrate test DOE and Japanese company would fund a two-year production test starting in 2017 at a suitable location on Alaska’s North Slope ALAN BAILEY Petroleum News
The state of Alaska and the U.S. Department of Energy are planning to conduct a long-term test of methane hydrate production on the North Slope, Mark Myers, commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, told the Commonwealth North Energy Action Coalition on Sept. 28. The test would start in 2017 and last for two years, Myers said.
“We’re working with the DOE on many fronts to get a well drilled in the Prudhoe-Milne infrastructure, or possibly in near or adjoining state land,” Myers said. DOE has committed $10 million to the project and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp. is contributing $20 million. But the federal Office of Management and Budget has yet to be convinced of the need to commit federal funding to the project, Myers said. North Slope operators have been very cooperative in sharing seismic data for the evaluation of potential test sites and one company has expressed a willingness to operate the field infrastructure for the test, he said.
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.
Extensive deposits 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. But, although there has been some short term testing of methane hydrate production, the viability of continuing long-term production has yet to be demonstrated.
Myers said that Alaska presents unique opportunities for methane hydrate testing, given that the resource is onshore, rather than offshore, in a region with an existing oil and gas infrastructure. However, he cautioned that, although the hydrates have tremendous potential for future energy development, commercial production would not begin in the next 10 years.
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 hydrate.
| 