{"id":105199,"date":"2009-12-27T07:24:00","date_gmt":"2009-12-27T12:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9864176.post-2847607998772022659"},"modified":"2009-12-27T07:24:00","modified_gmt":"2009-12-27T12:24:00","slug":"nz-methane-hydrates-may-soon-be-developed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/105199","title":{"rendered":"NZ Methane Hydrates May “Soon Be Developed”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rigzone has an article about high hopes for a methane hydrates development offshore from New Zealand (in an area where a wind farm would probably achieve as high a utilisation rate as you’d find anywhere in the world, I’d note) – NZ Methane Hydrates May Soon Be Developed<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A gas industry using frozen gas hydrates below the seabed off the East Coast could be developed in the near future thanks to rapid global technical developments.<\/p>\n

George Hooper, executive director of the Centre for Advanced Engineering, told a recent Oil and Gas conference in Wellington that exploitation of methane hydrates could transform New Zealand’s energy market.<\/p>\n

Hooper is lead author in a recent CAE report on an options analysis for commercial development of energy from offshore methane hydrates in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

He said ‘sweet spots’ containing high concentrations (about 4-10%) of methane hydrate found in sheets under the seabed off the East Coast may contain about 8.5 – 21 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of recoverable gas.<\/p>\n

He said New Zealand’s methane hydrates endowment is very likely the largest in the world on a per capita basis and potentially one of the largest resources in the world.<\/p>\n

Inferred resources of hydrates in New Zealand are 813 TCF with 40 TCF identified as potentially economically recoverable. Inferred world resources of hydrates are 20,000 TCF.<\/p>\n

The ice-like crystals of water and methane molecules intermixed with sediments are found over 50,000 sq km from offshore Marlborough to offshore Gisborne, as well as off Fiordland.<\/p>\n

A number of countries were now working on developing commercial gas production from hydrates including Japan, India, the US and South Korea. Japan was talking of a 2015 timeline for first production, though this might be optimistic, Hooper said.<\/p>\n

He anticipates rapid progress in the engineering geology and production technologies required for hydrates extraction, both internationally and in New Zealand.<\/p>\n

This demanded a considerable ramp-up of hydrate research and development effort here to ensure New Zealand has the earliest possible opportunity to develop its hydrate resources and associated skills.<\/p>\n

A conceptual well development plan for a known Wairarapa hydrates ‘sweet spot’ site offshore Wairarapa, east of Wellington, was prepared for the study.<\/p>\n

Costings for a small scale 10 petajoule a year ‘proving’ project indicated this option would require capital expenditure of $370 million.<\/p>\n

To produce 150 PJ of gas, equal to the entire New Zealand gas market, the capital expenditure would be about $4 billion, about twice the $2 billion capital spending required to produce a similar volume of conventional natural gas.<\/p>\n

The cost of building a 300 PJ project both for domestic gas use and for the export of LNG, would cost about $8 billion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n