Gas Hydrates
The consumption of fossil fuel is increasing at an alarming rate
causing depletion of existing reserves.
Further, there was no major oil discovery in the last decade. This situation prompted countries to search
for alternate source of energy. Gas
hydrates with their abundant resource potential is emerging as a potential
cleaner fuel resource. Gas hydrates are
ice like crystalline accumulations formed mainly from methane and water. Gas hydrates are stable, in permafrost
regions and in low temperature - high pressure regimes of the continental
margins. According to conservative fuel
resource estimates, worldwide gas hydrate contains more organic carbon (about
10,000 billion tons) than all other global reserves combined (about 8780 billion
tons). The preliminary assessment of geological
condition and limited available seismic data suggests high possibility of
occurrence of large quantity of gas hydrates within the EEZ of India.
Gas hydrate exploration is a nascent science and various countries are
carrying out R&D activities to develop techniques for detection and
quantification of gas hydrates. In view
of the above, a mission mode programme has been proposed to develop science and
technology in
Main Objectives:
i.
Establish geophysical techniques for detection and
quantification of gas hydrates;
ii.
Undertake regional scale investigation to identify
promising sites and estimate resource potential;
iii.
Demonstrate existence of methane hydrate by ground truth
sampling/ drilling;
iv.
Understand the process of generation and accumulation of
hydrates in marine sediments;
v.
Understand the impact of gas hydrates dissociation on
geological environment and climate;
vi.
Develop environmentally safe technology for production and
transportation of gas from gas hydrates in pilot scale;
vii.
Establish mechanism for monitoring and management of
environmental perturbation during harvesting of gas hydrate;
viii.
Recommendation of suitable sites for drilling and ground
truth validation
Dr. Harsh K.
Gupta, Secretary, Department of Ocean Development, Government of India, delivered
the prestigious Anton Bruun memorial lecture for the year 2003 at the IOC
Assembly. The theme of his talk was GAS HYDRATES: A POTENTIAL SOURCE OF ENERGY
FROM THE OCEANS.
Dr Harsh Gupta, Secretary
(DOD) Anton Braun Lecture Click for Full paper in PDF