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Japan’s state-run energy company Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corp (JOGMEC) says it has successfully extracted gas from offshore methane hydrate deposits.
Methane hydrate consists of methane trapped in crystalline structure of frozen water, and it is being explored as a future source of natural gas, due to the large deposits trapped under oceans and permafrost around the globe. It is viewed as a clean energy source, as carbon dioxide can be injected into wells during the extraction process.
According to Reuters, “A Japanese study has estimated the existence of at least 40 trillion cubic feet (1.1 trillion cubic meters) of methane hydrates in the eastern Nankai Trough off the country’s Pacific coast, about 11 years of Japanese gas consumption.
Japan used depressurization to turn methane hydrate to methane gas, a process thought by the government to be more effective than using the hot water circulation method the country had tested successfully in 2002.”