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To: Salt'n'Peppa who wrote (124889)	5/21/2011 10:53:33 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 206085

Newly Installed Alaska North Slope Well Will Test Innovative Hydrate Production Technologies Release Date: May 18, 2011 netl.doe.gov Project Goals Include Injecting and Storing CO2 While Producing Methane Gas from Hydrate Washington, D.C. - A fully instrumented well that will test innovative technologies for producing methane gas from hydrate deposits has been safely installed on the North Slope of Alaska. As a result, the "Ignik Sikumi" (Iñupiaq for "fire in the ice") gas hydrate field trial well will be available for field experiments as early as winter 2011–12. The well, the result of a partnership between ConocoPhillips and the Office of Fossil Energy’s (FE) National Energy Technology Laboratory, will test a technology that involves injecting carbon dioxide (CO2) into sandstone reservoirs containing methane hydrate. Laboratory studies indicate that the CO2 molecules will replace the methane molecules within the solid hydrate lattice, resulting in the simultaneous sequestration of CO2 in a solid hydrate structure and production of methane gas. Methane hydrate consists of molecules of natural gas trapped in an open rigid framework of water molecules. It occurs in sediments within and below thick permafrost in Arctic regions, and in the subsurface of most continental waters with a depth of ~1,500 feet or greater. Many experts believe it represents a potentially vast source of global energy and FE scientists have studied methane hydrate resource potential and production technologies for more than two decades. Researchers are addressing such important issues as seafloor stability, drilling safety, and a range of environmental issues, including gas hydrate’s role in changing climates. The recently completed operations include the acquisition of a research-level suite of measurements through the sub-permafrost hydrate-bearing sediments. The data confirm the occurrence of 160 feet of gas-hydrate-bearing sand reservoirs in four separate zones, as predicted, and provide insight into their physical and mechanical properties. An array of down-hole pressure-temperature gauges were installed in the well, as well as a continuous fiber-optic temperature sensor outside the well casing, which will monitor the well as it returns to natural conditions following the drilling program. In coming months, field trial participants will review the data to determine the optimal parameters for future field testing. Current plans are to re-enter the well in a future winter drilling season, and conduct a 1-2 month program of CO2 injection and well production to assess the efficiency of the exchange process. Following those tests, the remaining time available before the spring thaw (as much as 40 days) may be used to test reservoir response to pressure reduction in the wellbore. This alternative methane-production method, "depressurization," recently proved effective during short-term testing conducted by the governments of Japan and Canada at a site in northwestern Canada.

To: Salt'n'Peppa who wrote (124889)	6/2/2011 10:01:08 AM
From: Dennis Roth	Respond to of 206085

The Ice That Burns: Are Methane Hydrates the Next Big Resource? May 27th, 2011 By John Rennie txchnologist.com Offshore production tests in 2012 So far, techniques for extracting methane from hydrates have been tested only in the laboratory and in brief field tests: a Japanese research consortium produced about 460,000 cubic feet of gas onshore over six days in 2008. The true tests will begin next year, when Japan will attempt the first offshore production tests from hydrates in the eastern Nankai Trough. === Given the Japanese nuclear situation, I think they may push harder now to develop hydrates. === SUGAR Homepage ifm-geomar.de In summer 2008, the SUGAR project (Submarine Gas Hydrate Reservoirs) was launched in Germany. The project aims to produce natural gas from marine methane hydrates and to sequester carbon dioxide (CO2) from power plants and other industrial sources as CO2-hydrate in marine sediments. This large-scale national project is funded by two federal ministries and German industries. The total funding is 13 Mio. € over an initial funding period of three years. The project has 30 institutional partners from academia and industries and is coordinated at the Kiel-based Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences (IFM-GEOMAR).