USA, Houston

Although technical and economic obstacles have yet to be resolved, methane hydrates production feasibility could be demonstrated on a commercial scale by 2020, and commercial production might get underway by 2025 according to a report coming out of the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston on May 8. The US Geological Survey's Energy Resources Program has said the world's gas hydrates accumulations exceed the volume of known conventional gas resources. It's estimated the US gas hydrates resources could total 200,000 tcf of gas in place and that world hydrates resources could total about 700,000 tcf of gas in place. In the US this year, a gas hydrates joint industry project (JIP), working in cooperation with government agencies, is expected to drill three deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mexico.