The Uncle John semi-submersible drilling vessel will enter the Gulf of Mexico later this month to embark on a 35-day mission to map out methane hydrates with two pairs of deep wells. Methane hydrate, which is called the “ice that burns” because it releases a flammable gas when it melts, may represent up to 200,000 Tcf of natural gas, according to the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy.

The voyage, which is being led by ChevronTexaco in cooperation with DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), is part of a four-year, $13.6 million project, called the Gulf of Mexico Joint Industry Project, partially funded by the DOE to develop technologies that locate and safely drill through or near hydrates. It is one initiative in DOE’s National Methane Hydrate R&D Program.

The Joint Industry Project has focused on two Gulf of Mexico sites: the Keathley Canyon and Atwater Valley areas on the Outer Continental Shelf offshore Texas and Louisiana. These locations, at a depth of 4,300 feet, were selected after an evaluation of sea floor geologic features and an estimation of the presence of methane hydrates.

While the potential of methane hydrates as an energy source is enormous, there is insufficient information available on its characteristics, on safety issues, and on the global climate impact of producing it. More research also must be done on how to cost-effectively transport the gas to the surface before wide-scale production can take place. Methane hydrate is sensitive to temperature changes and because of this, producing warm oil and gas from reservoirs below methane hydrate accumulations could make the sea floor and well-bore unstable.

During the project, researchers plan to drill two sets of deep well pairs in the Keathley Canyon and Atwater Valley locations to collect drilling, logging, and coring data. One well pair at each location will be drilled in an area expected to contain large volumes of methane hydrate. The second well pair will be drilled where less methane hydrate is indicated, for baseline data.

Comparing the data from the two areas will provide important information about the nature of the methane hydrate in the sea floor and provide a test for estimating reserves prior to drilling. The research team will subsequently evaluate all data and integrate it into the existing database and seismic information.

A significant activity of the expedition will be the collection and preservation of methane hydrate samples for laboratory testing. The results will ultimately provide researchers with the data needed to validate gas hydrate models and improve drilling safety procedures. https://www.netl.doe.gov/scngo/Natural%20Gas/hydrates/index.html

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