Access to 3D seismic mapping, along with a greater understanding of gas hydrate reservoir properties, yields estimates that are more precise.
The Alaska North Slope contains an estimated 53.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas hydrate resources, according to a new assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey. This estimate is for the undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas resources stored within gas hydrate formations.
“The USGS is committed to providing the most up-to-date, publicly available, peer-reviewed estimates of the nation’s energy resources,” said Walter Guidroz, program coordinator for the USGS Energy Resources Program. “As more information becomes available, we sometimes need to revise our assessments to ensure they reflect the best available science.”
This assessment updates a 2008 USGS assessment that estimated about 85 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable gas resources within gas hydrates of the Alaska North Slope. That assessment was the first-ever estimate of technically recoverable gas resources within gas hydrate.
Continue reading at USGS.
Image via Helen Gibbons, USGS Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center.