DOE Provides $5M to Expand 'Fire Ice' Research

The Department of Energy announced $5 million in funding for seven projects to help unlock the potential of natural gas trapped in icelike formations.

The projects are aimed at learning how methane hydrate extraction could affect the environment and developing alternative methods for extracting and commercializing the energy source, DOE said.

Experts estimate the amount of natural gas trapped in ice found both onshore and offshore, sometimes referred to as "fire ice," could easily dwarf the amount of currently known oil and gas reserves.

"The recent boom in natural gas production -- in part due to long-term Energy Department investments beginning in the '70s and '80s -- has had a transformative impact on our energy landscape, helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support thousands of American jobs," Secretary Ernest Moniz said in a statement.

"While our research into methane hydrates is still in its early stages, these investments will increase our understanding of this domestic resource and the potential to safely and sustainably unlock the natural gas held within."

DOE announced a successful field trial of methane hydrate production technology on Alaska's North Slope last year in partnership with ConocoPhillips Co. and the Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp., the state-owned energy company known as Jogmec. Production currently continues, and if all goes well, Japan plans to begin commercial production of natural gas at the site by 2018. In August, Alaska announced it is evaluating the methane hydrate potential of 11 tracts of state land on the North Slope (EnergyWire, Aug. 2).

Among projects getting funding:

• Georgia Tech Research Corp. will receive $480,000 to develop and test a new bore-hole sampling tool to collect new data to evaluate resource recovery, seafloor stability and gas hydrate responses to environmental changes.

• The University of Texas, Austin, will generate a 3-D reservoir model to include methods of sediment deposits, compaction, pressure development and methane creation to help understand and locate deposits for $1.7 million.

• The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will receive $900,000 to study the release of methane and bubble formation, along with seafloor stability, while the University of Washington will study the effect of rising temperatures in the ocean on methane hydrate deposits for $630,000.

Scientists have sounded the alarm over concerns that leaking methane from the Arctic seafloor will speed up climate change and cost trillions of dollars in economic loss (ClimateWire, July 25).

Other recipients of DOE grants, which will be overseen by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, are the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station, the University of Oregon and Oregon State University.

DOE put out a funding opportunity announcement in May for up to $20 million in projects studying methane hydrates, available over a four-year period and contingent on congressional appropriations.

Katherine Ling, E&E reporter

Republished from GreenWire with permission. GreenWire covers the energy and environmental policy news. Click here for a free trial

Copyright E&E Publishing