Gas Hydrate

Gas Hydrate: Resource or Hazard?

In deep marine sediments and arctic permafrost, methane and other natural gases combine with water to form an ice-like solid known as natural gas hydrate.  If the gas from the gas hydrate can be harvested, it is a source of energy like oil or natural gas.  However, if the gas hydrate melts in the sedimentary formation, it produces water and gas causing the sediment to lose strength, which can trigger slope failures and borehole collapse.  If methane released from gas hydrate escapes into the atmosphere, since it is a powerful greenhouse gas it could cause warming of the climate.

Geotek and Gas Hydrate

Geotek has been involved in gas hydrate coring and core analysis for over 20 years, developing innovative equipment for acquiring, handling and analysing pressure cores.  The ability to make mechanical measurements on core samples where the in situ pressures have been retained during the complete coring, handling and transportation process has long been a goal at Geotek.  While our initial relationship with pressure cores was based on our MSCL expertise for non-destructive logging of conventional cores, it expanded to the development of sophisticated laboratory test equipment for samples under pressure, and now includes the manufacture and operation of the tools to collect these ephemeral samples under in situ pressures.

Major offshore gas hydrate drilling expeditions.  Geotek Coring has participated in all expeditions after 2000.