Gas Hydrates

The goal of the Gas Hydrates Program is to advance scientific knowledge of gas hydrates as they occur in nature, so that their resource potential and role in global climate change can be fully understood in full collaboration with other federal agencies, universities, industry, and international partners.

NETL’s current Gas Hydrate Research and Development (R&D) Program integrates field, laboratory, and modeling studies to confirm the nature and quantity of the resource and develops and tests technologies for safe production in the future. The program balances research conducted onsite at NETL with extramural projects in a collaborative, integrated approach.

NETL provides international outreach and communication through its “Fire in the Ice” newsletter, which covers gas hydrate research plans/results, upcoming funding opportunities and meetings, and other events of interest to the worldwide gas hydrate R&D community.

Ongoing research pathways supported by NETL include:

• Demonstrating gas hydrate exploration and production technologies on the North Slope of Alaska and in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico (GoM).
• Improving resource characterization for onshore and offshore hydrate accumulations.
• Collaborating with international partners to improve production modeling capabilities.
• Building laboratory capabilities for testing hydrate samples under in situ conditions.
• Taking an active role in international drilling, sampling, and production testing expeditions.
• Investing in the future of hydrate research through the National Academies of Science (NAS)/NETL Methane Hydrate Fellowship Program.

Popular Gas Hydrate Program Links

• View NETL’s program fact sheet for Methane Hydrates.
• Read current and past issues of “Fire in the Ice,” NETL’s Methane Hydrate Newsletter.
• Learn more about Methane Hydrate R&D Program Highlights from 2000–2020.
• Find a full list of active and recent projects in the Methane Hydrate R&D Program.
• Find a list of completed projects in the Methane Hydrate R&D Program.
• Learn about Alaska North Slope: Establishing a long-term production test site.
• Learn about Gulf of Mexico: Methane Hydrate Resource Characterization.
• Read about the NAS/NETL Methane Hydrate Fellowship Program.
• View Methane Hydrate Program 2019 Science and Technology Accomplishment posters, pp. 84-87.

Additional Methane Hydrate Program Links

• Read Methane Hydrate Science and Technology: A 2017 update.
• View presentations from the 2017 International Conference on Gas Hydrates.
• Read about the 2017 Gulf of Mexico Drilling and Coring Expedition.
• Read UNEP’s 2015 Frozen Heat: A global outlook on methane gas hydrates.
• Review the 2013 Interagency Roadmap for Methane Hydrate R&D.
• Read about the 2012 Ignik Sikumi gas hydrate field trial.
• Read about the 2010 International Gas Hydrate Code Comparison Study.
• View results of the 2009 Gulf of Mexico JIP-Leg II.
• View results of the 2005 Gulf of Mexico JIP-Leg I.
• View results from the 2007 Alaska Mt. Elbert Well.
• View the Methane Hydrate Program Bibliography.