OS3B-6:PLANNING FOR THE NEXT OFFSHORE UNITED STATES METHANE HYDRATE FIELD SAMPLING PROGRAM

Greg MYERS¹，Timothy S. COLLETT² , David DIVINS¹, Margo MORELL¹

1. Consortium for Ocean Leadership, USA; 2. U.S. Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, Denver, US

A new community led, methane hydrate science plan has been created and disseminated to the global methane hydrate community and may be used as an implementable framework for future U.S. or International methane hydrate field programs. The Consortium for Ocean Leadership (COL) completed this one year project, funded by the United States Department of Energy –National Energy Technology Lab (U.S. DOE-NETL) to conduct the first step methane hydrate field program planning. The purpose of this abstract and paper is to outline the findings of this project and the potential next steps leading to future methane hydrate exploration projects.

Our project plan began with the documenting of the current state of the art in methane hydrate research in key areas including (1) Methane Hydrate Resource Assessment and Global Carbon Cycle, (2) The Challenge of Producing Methane Hydrate, (3) Methane Hydrate Related Geohazards, and (4) Modeling, Laboratory, and Field System Requirements and Integration. This report along with all the deliverable documents are available for public download on the project website, www.oceanleadership.org/methane. To address science needs or gaps in the four areas listed above, an international workshop was convened and a workshop report created. The process was steered by a science team and science team leader selected to provide broad experience and expertise needed to create an effective workshop plan and capture the critical elements to be included in the science plan. The methane hydrate science plan has been posted on the project website and includes the goals for potential future field programs, recommended locations, and measurement plans. Now our efforts are focused on using the methane hydrate science plan to conduct the detailed planning for an offshore operation and we wish to share these results with the international community.