What are Gas Hydrates?

Mallik drill site Gas hydrates are ice-like substances composed of water and natural gas that form when gases, (mainly biogenic methane produced by microbial breakdown of organic matter) combine with water at low temperature and high pressure.

Gas hydrates represent a very large global reservoir of natural gas and they are estimated to contain more organic carbon than all other known fossil fuel sources combined. They bind immense amounts of methane within sea-floor or Arctic sediments ; the breakdown of a unit volume of methane hydrate at a pressure of one atmosphere produces about 160 unit volumes of gas. The worldwide amount of methane in gas hydrates is considered to contain at least 1x104 gigatons of carbon in a very conservative estimate. This is about twice the amount of carbon held in all fossil fuels on earth.

Gas hydrates exist under large portions of the world's Arctic areas and on deep sea continental slopes in water depths greater than about 600m. All three Canadian continental margins contain gas hydrates. The Mackenzie River delta, in the NWT, contains some of the most concentrated deposits in the world. A number of other countries such as Russia, the United States, India, Japan and China also have substantial marine gas hydrate deposits.

t under large portions of the world's Arctic areas and on deep sea continental slopes in water depths greater than about 600m. All three Canadian continental margins contain gas hydrates. The Mackenzie River delta, in the NWT, contains some of the most concentrated deposits in the world. A number of other countries such as Russia, the United States, India, Japan and China also have substantial marine gas hydrate deposits.

"The estimated amount of natural gas contained in the world’s gas hydrate accumulations is enormous, but is speculative and ranges over three orders of magnitude, from about 2,800 to 8,000,000 trillion cubic meters of gas. Alexei Milkov recently reported in Geology that the volume of gas trapped globally in gas hydrate accumulations is in the range of 3,000 to 5,000 trillion cubic meters of gas, which is four to seven times less than some of the more widely cited estimates By comparison, conventional natural gas accumulations (reserves and technically recoverable undiscovered resources) for the world are estimated at approximately 440 trillion cubic meters"

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