Washington (Platts)--31Aug2012/400 pm EDT/2000 GMT

The US Department of Energy on Friday announced it is investing $5.6 million in 14 research projects on methane hydrates, which the agency says could be a major source of natural gas.

Methane hydrates are ice-lattice structures with frozen natural gas, and they are found worldwide, including under the Arctic permafrost and on the ocean floor.

DOE said the projects announced Friday would complement a successful, first-of-its-kind test earlier this year that was able to extract a steady flow of natural gas from methane hydrates on the North Slope of Alaska.

"While research on methane hydrates is still in the early stages, these research efforts as part of President Obama's all-of-the-above energy strategy could potentially yield significant new supplies of natural gas and further expand US energy supplies," Energy Secretary Steven Chu said in a statement.

DOE said the new projects, managed by its National Energy Technology Laboratory, would focus on deepwater hydrate characterization, the response of methane hydrate systems to changing climates, and greater understanding of methane hydrate deposits.

For example, the University of Texas at Austin received the largest grant, $1.2 million, to develop models to analyze conditions under which natural gas is expelled from hydrate formations into the ocean, which could damage the ecosystem.

Southern Methodist University received $1.1 million to conduct various analyses on temperature and pressure ranges where gas hydrates remain stable on the Alaskan Beaufort continental slope.

"The research announced today will advance our understanding of the nature and occurrence of deepwater and arctic gas hydrates and their implications for future resource development and environmental performance," DOE said.

--Herman Wang, herman_wang@platts.com
--Edited by Kevin Saville, kevin_saville@platts.com

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