Oil production facts and figures for P38

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USGS Fact sheet: Gas (Methane) Hydrates -- A New Frontier

Methane trapped in marine sediments as a hydrate represents such an immense carbon reservoir that it must be considered a dominant factor in estimating unconventional energy resources; the role of methane as a 'greenhouse' gas also must be carefully assessed.
Dr. William Dillon,
U.S. Geological Survey
Hydrates store immense amounts of methane, with major implications for energy resources and climate, but the natural controls on hydrates and their impacts on the environment are very poorly understood.
Gas hydrates occur abundantly in nature, both in Arctic regions and in marine sediments. Gas hydrate is a crystalline solid consisting of gas molecules, usually methane, each surrounded by a cage of water molecules. It looks very much like water ice. Methane hydrate is stable in ocean floor sediments at water depths greater than 300 meters, and where it occurs, it is known to cement loose sediments in a surface layer several hundred meters thick.

The worldwide amounts of carbon bound in gas hydrates is conservatively estimated to total twice the amount of carbon to be found in all known fossil fuels on Earth.

This estimate is made with minimal information from U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and other studies. Extraction of methane from hydrates could provide an enormous energy and petroleum feedstock resource. Additionally, conventional gas resources appear to be trapped beneath methane hydrate layers in ocean sediments.

Recent mapping conducted by the USGS off North Carolina and South Carolina shows large accumulations of methane hydrates.

A pair of relatively small areas, each about the size of the State of Rhode Island, shows intense concentrations of gas hydrates. USGS scientists estimate that these areas contain more than 1,300 trillion cubic feet of methane gas, an amount representing more than 70 times the 1989 gas consumption of the United States. Some of the gas was formed by bacteria in the sediments, but some may be derived from deep strata of the Carolina Trough. The Carolina Trough is a significant offshore oil and gas frontier area where no wells have been drilled. It is a very large basin, about the size of the State of South Carolina, that has accumulated a great thickness of sediment, perhaps more than 13 kilometers. Salt diapirs, reefs, and faults, in addition to hydrate gas, may provide greater potential for conventional oil and gas traps than is present in other east coast basins.

The immense volumes of gas and the richness of the deposits may make methane hydrates a strong candidate for development as an energy resource.

Because the gas is held in a crystal structure, gas molecules are more densely packed than in conventional or other unconventional gas traps. Gas-hydrate-cemented strata also act as seals for trapped free gas. These traps provide potential resources, but they can also represent hazards to drilling, and therefore must be well understood. Production of gas from hydrate-sealed traps may be an easy way to extract hydrate gas because the reduction of pressure caused by production can initiate a breakdown of hydrates and a recharging of the trap with gas.

USGS investigations indicate that gas hydrates may cause landslides on the continental slope.

Seafloor slopes of 5 degrees and less should be stable on the Atlantic continental margin, yet many landslide scars are present. The depth of the top of these scars is near the top of the hydrate zone, and seismic profiles indicate less hydrate in the sediment beneath slide scars. Evidence available suggests a link between hydrate instability and occurrence of landslides on the continental margin. A likely mechanism for initiation of landsliding involves a breakdown of hydrates at the base of the hydrate layer. The effect would be a change from a semi-cemented zone to one that is gas-charged and has little strength, thus facilitating sliding. The cause of the breakdown might be a reduction in pressure on the hydrates due to a sea-level drop, such as occurred during glacial periods when ocean water became isolated on land in great ice sheets.



Methane, a "greenhouse" gas, is 10 times more effective than carbon dioxide in causing climate warming.

Methane bound in hydrates amounts to approximately 3,000 times the volume of methane in the atmosphere. There is insufficient information to judge what geological processes might most affect the stability of hydrates in sediments and the possible release of methane into the atmosphere. Methane released as a result of landslides caused by a sea-level fall would warm the Earth, as would methane released from gas hydrates in Arctic sediments as they become warmed during a sea-level rise. This global warming might counteract cooling trends and thereby stabilize climatic fluctuation, or it could exacerbate climatic warming and thereby destabilize the climate.

Results of USGS investigations indicate that methane hydrates possess unique acoustic properties.

The velocity of sound in hydrate is very high, and therefore the velocity of sound in the surface layer of hydrate-cemented sediments also is high. Specific acoustic characteristics of hydrate-cemented sediments are not well known and require further study. Such information has significant implications in the use of sonar devices for defense, seismic exploration, and research.

Realizing the importance of methane hydrates in marine sediments, the USGS has focused work on selected areas where hydrates are known to be common, and where the influences of hydrates on energy resources, climate, and seafloor stability can be analyzed.

At this stage, it is important for USGS scientists to learn how the hydrates form, evolve, and break down, how they affect sediments, and what factors control their concentration at certain locations, as well as to explore for new hydrate accumulations. Cooperation with other Federal agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for bathymetry studies, the Department of Energy for application of hydrate gas extraction technology, and the U.S. Navy for acoustic studies, will enhance the success of future work.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

Good info - If I was Pres., I'd dump half of congress paywages into this, just for starters

 

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OSLO, Norway (AP) -- Tests of a deep-water well in the Gulf of Mexico could indicate a significant oil discovery, three companies announced Tuesday, in the first project to tap into a region that reportedly could boost U.S. oil and gas reserves by as much as 50 percent.

The Jack 2 well was drilled by U.S. oil company Chevron Corp., with partners Statoil ASA of Norway and Devon Energy Corp. of Oklahoma City.

"Test results are very encouraging and may indicate a significant discovery. The full magnitude of the field's potential is still being defined," Statoil said in a statement.

During the test, the Jack 2 well sustained a flow rate of more than 6,000 barrels of oil per day, Statoil said.

The Wall Street Journal reported Monday that the region where the well is located could become the nation's biggest new domestic source of oil since the discovery of Alaska's North Slope more than a generation ago.

The Journal said Chevron and Devon officials estimate that recent discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico's lower-tertiary formations hold up to 15 billion barrels' worth of oil and gas reserves, a total that would boost the nation's current reserves by 50 percent.

The well was drilled in the Walker Ridge area of the Gulf, about 270 miles southwest of New Orleans and 175 miles off the coast. It followed up a discovery made by Chevron in 2004.

"This area is one of the new and promising deep-water areas in the Gulf of Mexico," said Oivind Reinertsen, senior vice president of Statoil's Gulf of Mexico assets in Houston.

"The Jack 2 well test data are encouraging and may form the basis of future development projects in Walker Ridge," he said.

In a separate statement, San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron said the well set a variety of records, including the deepest well successfully tested in the Gulf of Mexico. Chevron said it was drilled to a total depth of 28,175 feet in waters that are 7,000 feet deep.

Chevron has a 50 percent stake in the field, while Statoil and Devon own 25 percent each.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/storie...ME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-09-05-08-28-12

 

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Heres something for Deradler to ponder:

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - Alaskan voters will decide this week whether to impose a nearly $1 billion-a-year tax on oil companies holding leases for undeveloped natural gas lying in the ground on the state's North Slope region.

The ballot initiative, to be voted on in the general election on Tuesday, would assess a tax at a rate of 3 cents per 1,000 cubic feet on long-known large deposits of conventional natural gas.

The target is the approximately 35 trillion cubic feet of known natural gas on the North Slope, most of it in the Prudhoe Bay and Point Thomson fields.

Written by a trio of state lawmakers who were unable to get similar tax passed by the legislature, the initiative reflects frustration over the failure to realize Alaska's decades-long dream of building a pipeline to deliver the North Slope's bounty of natural gas to the lower 48 U.S. states.

Supporters say ConocoPhillips, BP Plc and Exxon Mobil Corp. are just warehousing the known natural gas and biding their time on the gas pipeline while investing in more profitable gas projects overseas.

"This makes delay expensive," said state Rep. Eric Croft, a Democrat from Anchorage and one of the initiative authors and sponsors. "We're the one place on the planet of any significance that lets our resource be warehoused until it's convenient for Exxon."

Both sides say they want a natural gas pipeline, a massive project that would cost over $20 billion and would transport about 4 billion cubic feet a day.

Opponents, including the oil companies, say the reserves tax will delay rather than encourage a gas pipeline because it will cause lengthy litigation, higher costs and a diversion of investment dollars.

Roger Marks, an economist who works for the Alaska Department of Revenue, predicted dire consequences if producers have to pay the reserves tax.

Even though the initiative promises a tax refund once a gas pipeline is built, the chance for the companies to make the investment needed to prop up dwindling North Slope oil production will be lost, he said.

"Production will drop like a rock, and 10 years from now, when there's no oil left, they may build a line or they may not," Marks told the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, one of many business groups that opposes to the initiative.

As of mid-October, the measure was failing to win public support, according to a survey taken by Anchorage-based pollster Jean Craciun. Polls showed that 42 percent of likely voters opposed the initiative, while 28 percent favored it with the remainder undecided.

An advertising blitz financed by the oil industry is trying to drum up opposition to the initiative and overcome public resentment to the oil companies, now making record profits.

Alaskans to vote on taxing natural gas reserves - Yahoo! News